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Set against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared on Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in prison for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals 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 during 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received a mixed reaction. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a painful era in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”