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Against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church expressed regret for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated on Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to take place after his statement.

The apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the crisis as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, England's church apologised for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, although it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church last year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but remained staunch in the view that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”