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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident 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 sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have sought to make amends for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, England's church said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, 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 honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”