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Against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, declared on Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could have church weddings starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade 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 of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a difficult period within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to offer apologies for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”