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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The national church has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to take place after his statement.

The apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in prison for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. In the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but had come “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have attempted to offer apologies for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but remained staunch in its belief that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, 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 have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”