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Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the crisis as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a few churches have sought to offer apologies for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but held fast in its belief that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”