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Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to marry in church from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited varied responses. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

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

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but remained staunch in the view that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”