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Amid red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades in prison for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”