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Set against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

The apology took place at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the disease as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to make amends for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, England's church apologised for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as 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 celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”