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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 shooting that took two lives and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited differing opinions. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “strong and important” but arrived “too late for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to offer apologies for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, although it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”