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Amid red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

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

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

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “represented the closure of a painful era in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”