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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The national church has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with differing opinions. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a few churches have tried to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, although it still declines to permit gay marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

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

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”