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Set against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but arrived “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in the view that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”