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Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

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

During 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and same-sex couples could have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited varied responses. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a difficult period within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but held fast in its belief that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation 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 all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”