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Against red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“Norway's church has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

The apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”