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Against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, emerging as the world's second to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology elicited differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but arrived “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, although it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but held fast in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”