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Against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, declared during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples could have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday was met with varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter 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 “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church apologised for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, though it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but remained staunch in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”