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Set against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to follow his apology.

The apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 attack that took two lives and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons 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 in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”