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Set against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I apologise today.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret was delivered at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but arrived “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as punishment from God”.

Globally, a few churches have attempted to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in the view that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing 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 honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”