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Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced this Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have tried to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”