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Amid crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could marry in church starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but remained staunch in the view that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”