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Amid crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced on 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 acknowledged. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 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 received differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to reconcile for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, although it still declines to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church last year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”