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Against red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church expressed regret for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to follow his apology.

The apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could have church weddings since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a difficult period within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have tried to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”