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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“Norway's church has caused LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared on Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

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

This formal apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

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

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and same-sex couples could have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to reconcile for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”