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Against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, announced on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

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 allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “strong and important” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to reconcile for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a renewed commitment 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,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”