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Amid deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to at least 30 years in incarceration for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

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

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples could marry in church since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday received differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but had come “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”