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Amid red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, 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 swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

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 in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and same-sex couples could have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have tried to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to permit gay marriages within the church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”