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December 31, 2012

First gay Anglican bishop reminisces

The Associated Press Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson says he chafed for several years at being branded the first openly gay bishop of the Anglican Church until he realized that he was wasting a pulpit from which he could advocate for equality.

“I’d been given this really remarkable opportunity and it would be selfish of me not to be the best steward of that opportunity,” he recently told The Associated Press in an interview as he prepares to retire in January. “We went from my consecration, which set off this international controversy, to nine years later seeing gay, lesbian and transgender congregants welcome at all levels of the church, including bishop.”

Robinson’s election in 2003 as the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican church created an international uproar and led conservative Episcopalians to break away from the main church in the United States.

Robinson, 65, will hand the pastoral staff to his successor, A. Robert Hirschfeld, in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Concord on Jan. 5.

As he prepared to retire after nearly a decade as bishop, Robinson reflected on the crucibles and crusades of his tenure.

He was publicly shunned by church elders, targeted with death threats and says he struggled to strike a balance between being the “good bishop” and the “gay bishop.” In the end, he says, they became one and the same.

He is a self-described “off-the-end-of-the-scale extrovert” who bounds across stages and television studios, whether promoting causes or his new book, “God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage.”

Robinson said it pained him deeply to be excluded in 2008 from a gathering of Anglican bishops and clergy that occurs every 10 years in England, known as the Lambeth Conference. He said it was the first time since 1867 that a bishop had not been invited.

He traveled to England despite the snub to make his presence known and minister to anyone who wanted his counsel.

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