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Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has brought LGBTQ+ people 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 a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples could have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”