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Against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in prison for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

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 by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with varied responses. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to make amends for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

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

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”