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Set against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I apologise today.”

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

The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church 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. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, Norway's church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but had come “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have sought to make amends for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but held fast in its belief that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”