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Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has brought LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

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

In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to have church weddings since 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but had come “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to reconcile for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”