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Set against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the disease as divine punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, England's church apologised for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church last year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”