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Against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology was met with differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have sought to reconcile for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”