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Set against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a few churches have attempted to reconcile for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”