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Set against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

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

During 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to reconcile for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, England's church expressed regret for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, though it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but held fast in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”