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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for discrimination and harm caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades in incarceration 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 LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to marry in church 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 apology on Thursday received varied responses. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have tried to offer apologies for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, England's church apologised for what it described as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”