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Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced this Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to marry in church from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the disease as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have tried to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, England's church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its belief that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

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

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”