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Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to take place after his statement.

The apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to have church weddings from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a painful era within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have sought to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, though it still declines to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing 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 did not manage to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”