V. Gene Robinson is bishop of a tiny,rural Episcopal Diocese in New Hampshire, & he is at the center of a storm of controversy raging in the Episcopal Church & throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion involving homosexuality & the priesthood.
Gene Robinson is the 1st openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, & the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination. Robinson: "God never gets it wrong. The church often takes a long time to get it right. It is a human institution, but one capable of self-correction, I believe in my heart that the church got it wrong about homosexuality. There is great excitement in my heart to be living in a time when the church is starting to get it right."
He argues that the time has come for full civil rights of GLBT people. He insists that the God he knows is a God of radical inclusion, who wants to lift up all the oppressed, including women, minorities & the poor. He has opposed the Roman Catholic ban on homosexual seminarians: "I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries."
Robinson met his partner, Mark Andrew, while on vacation in St. Croix. Andrew was on vacation from his position at the national office of the Peace Corps. In 1988, Robinson & Andrew moved into a new house & had it blessed by Bishop Douglas Theuner, an event which they considered to be the formal recognition of their life together. Andrew currently works in the New Hampshire state government. He was legally married to Robinson in June 2008 in a private ceremony, followed by a religious ceremony, both in St Paul's Church, in Concord. Robinson: "I always wanted to be a June bride."
Today Gene Robinson turns 64 years old. Due the controversy surrounding his ordination, he plans to step down in 2013, 7 years early. Robinson: "Death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy surrounding your election of me as bishop, have been a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood with me every minute of the last seven years, and in some ways, you."
Gene Robinson is the 1st openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, & the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination. Robinson: "God never gets it wrong. The church often takes a long time to get it right. It is a human institution, but one capable of self-correction, I believe in my heart that the church got it wrong about homosexuality. There is great excitement in my heart to be living in a time when the church is starting to get it right."
He argues that the time has come for full civil rights of GLBT people. He insists that the God he knows is a God of radical inclusion, who wants to lift up all the oppressed, including women, minorities & the poor. He has opposed the Roman Catholic ban on homosexual seminarians: "I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries."
Robinson met his partner, Mark Andrew, while on vacation in St. Croix. Andrew was on vacation from his position at the national office of the Peace Corps. In 1988, Robinson & Andrew moved into a new house & had it blessed by Bishop Douglas Theuner, an event which they considered to be the formal recognition of their life together. Andrew currently works in the New Hampshire state government. He was legally married to Robinson in June 2008 in a private ceremony, followed by a religious ceremony, both in St Paul's Church, in Concord. Robinson: "I always wanted to be a June bride."
Today Gene Robinson turns 64 years old. Due the controversy surrounding his ordination, he plans to step down in 2013, 7 years early. Robinson: "Death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy surrounding your election of me as bishop, have been a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood with me every minute of the last seven years, and in some ways, you."
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