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Set against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I apologise today.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that took two lives and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have tried to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

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 stayed firm in its belief that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”