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Against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

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

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars involved 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 sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to have church weddings from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a painful era within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have tried to make amends for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Church of England expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its belief that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”