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Against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday was met with differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church 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 all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”