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Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to take place after his statement.

The apology took place at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to marry in church starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “an important reparation” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in the view that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as 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 wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”