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Against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 attack that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. 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 legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples were permitted to have church weddings starting in 2017. During 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited differing opinions. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a painful era in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement 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 as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”