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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but had come “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to make amends for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, England's church expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded 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.”