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Set against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to marry in church starting in 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday received varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a difficult period within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the disease as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have sought to reconcile for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”