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Against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret took place 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 throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings from 2017 onward. Last year, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited differing opinions. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”