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Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to take place after his statement.

The apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades in prison for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a painful era in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it still declines to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but remained staunch in the view that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”