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Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, Norway's church began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology elicited differing opinions. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have sought to reconcile for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”