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Against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology took place at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in prison for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church last year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”