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

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that took two lives and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in prison for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners could marry in church from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but held fast in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”