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Amid red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I apologise today.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. In the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples could marry in church since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology elicited differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but arrived “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the disease as divine punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have tried to make amends for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church apologised for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, even as it still declines to permit gay marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but held fast in the view that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”