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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The national church has brought LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to reconcile for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, England's church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”