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Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to follow his apology.

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a painful era in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to offer apologies for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but remained staunch in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”