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Set against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in incarceration for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received varied responses. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, even as it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church last year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”