This really isn’t news. Episcopalians splintered some years ago over the ordination of an openly gay bishop. At the time, many of those Episcopalians aligned with the Anglican church.
I suppose that the only news value here is that it is CALIFORNIA Episcopalians severing ties over gay church issues.
The Episcopal Church is the official Anglican church in America and part of the world-wide Anglican Communion. That's the problem. There are scores of small groups that have splintered off since back in the 1970s, all calling themselves Anglican, but all of them independent from the Anglican Communion. There are now some Episcopal congregations who have aligned themselves with the official Anglican churches in other parts of the world, such as Africa or South America. The San Joaquin Diocese is the first to this as a whole. This is a very big mess among American Anglicans. But then, welcome to life.