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Against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, Norway's church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the crisis as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have tried to make amends for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a reaffirmation 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 beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”