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Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this 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 Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

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

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to have church weddings starting in 2017. Last year, 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 differing opinions. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “strong and important” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have attempted to make amends for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”