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Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

The apology took place at the London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to marry in church from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with differing opinions. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but arrived “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, though it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in the view that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

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

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”