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Amid red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and this is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to follow his apology.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars involved in the 2022 attack 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 had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology was met with a mixed reaction. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “an important reparation” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Globally, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in the view that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”