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Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church expressed regret for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine 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 Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded 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 worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church starting in 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited a mixed reaction. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the disease as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have sought to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”