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Against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them to become pastors or to have church weddings. In the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church starting in 2017. During 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the crisis as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, even as it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”