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Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church expressed regret for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 attack that killed two people and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its belief that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”