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Amid deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the crisis as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a few churches have tried to offer apologies for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Church of England said sorry for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”