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Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church offered an apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

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

Globally, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, England's church said sorry for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its conviction 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, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”