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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I apologise today.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine 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 in prison for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church from 2017 onward. In 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited varied responses. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “powerful and significant” but arrived “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have attempted to make amends for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”