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Amid crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead 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.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

The apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday received differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “an important reparation” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, though it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

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

Several months ago, Canada's United Church issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”