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Amid red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to marry in church since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology received a mixed reaction. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a difficult period within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but held fast in the view that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

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

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”