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Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to take place after his statement.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “strong and important” but arrived “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, though it still declines to permit gay marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but remained staunch in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”