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Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

The apology took place at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but had come “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, although it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but held fast in the view that matrimony must only constitute 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, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”