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Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to take place after his statement.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples have been able to marry in church from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “powerful and significant” but arrived “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to reconcile for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”