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Against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could marry in church since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to offer apologies for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”