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Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to take place after his statement.

The apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in prison for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to reconcile for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, even as it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in the view that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”