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Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday received varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the disease as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, England's church said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”