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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

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

In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples could marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology elicited varied responses. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but arrived “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have tried to reconcile for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but remained staunch in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”