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Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

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

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years 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 – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with a mixed reaction. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a difficult period within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but arrived “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have sought to offer apologies for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, though it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but held fast in the view that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”