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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops 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 allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to marry in church since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology elicited differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but had come “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the crisis as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to reconcile for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

In a similar vein, 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 partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”