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Amid crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to follow his apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that took two lives and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades in prison for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and same-sex couples could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday elicited a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the disease as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to permit gay marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”