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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The national church has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that took two lives and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community 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 from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received a mixed reaction. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a painful era in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to make amends for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”