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Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

The apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to have church weddings starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday received a mixed reaction. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but had come “too late for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”