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Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway offered an apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology occurred at the London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to have church weddings from 2017 onward. In 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology elicited varied responses. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but arrived “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to offer apologies for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it described as “shameful” actions, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”