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Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, 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, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment 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 “meaningful and vital” but arrived “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the crisis as divine punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, though it still declines to permit gay marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”