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Amid deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back 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, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church starting in 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday received differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a few churches have tried to reconcile for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but held fast in its belief that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”