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Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to come after the apology.

The apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to offer apologies for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, although it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church last year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a confirmation 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 wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”