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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 attack that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to offer apologies for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church said sorry for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it still declines to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Similarly, 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 stayed firm in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”