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Amid red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church expressed regret for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”

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

This formal apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry in church since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but had come “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have sought to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church last year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”