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Amid red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis as divine punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”