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Set against red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a painful era in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, though it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”