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Set against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “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 some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The statement of regret was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

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

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples could get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a difficult period within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, though it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”