Posted on 05/04/2014 4:50:35 AM PDT by Gamecock
Bishop Gene Robinson, whose 2003 election as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop rocked Anglican Communion, has announced his divorce from his longtime partner and husband.
Robinson, who retired in 2013 as the Bishop of New Hampshire, and his partner of 25 years, Mark Andrew, were married in a private civil union in 2008. The announcement was made public Saturday (May 3) in a statement to the Diocese of New Hampshire.
“As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for us — not a decision entered into lightly or without much counseling,” Robinson wrote in a letter. “We ask for your prayers, that the love and care for each other that has characterized our relationship for a quarter century will continue in the difficult days ahead.”
He explained his views on marriage and divorce further in a column for the Daily Beast.
“It is at least a small comfort to me, as a gay rights and marriage equality advocate, to know that like any marriage, gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages between heterosexual couples,” Robinson wrote.
Hundreds of parishes left the Episcopal Church in protest of his controversial consecration.
“Whenever you choose to or are called into living a public life, one of the prices you pay for that is public scrutiny, so it’s not surprising that people will pay attention to this,” said Susan Russell, an Episcopal priest at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., and past-president of the LGBT advocacy group Integrity USA.
Robinson, 66, is now a fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.
“My belief in marriage is undiminished by the reality of divorcing someone I have loved for a very long time, and will continue to love even as we separate,” Robinson wrote in his column. “Love can endure, even if a marriage cannot.”
Due to changes in New Hampshire laws on same-sex marriage, Robinson became legally married to his partner when they didn’t opt out of the change in state law, according to Russell.
In 2012, the Episcopal Church voted to allow bishops to permit priests to bless same-sex marriages. Russell said further discussion about the church’s canon law and prayer book in relation to LBGT concerns will be held at the denomination’s convention next year.
Robinson went public with his sexual identity and divorce from his wife in 1986. He has since been open about the heavy toll he has faced under public scrutiny. Four years ago, he underwent treatment for alcoholism.
Robinson declined to speak further in an interview.
Critics say Robinson’s actions defied scriptural authority and thousands of years of Christian tradition. His divorce could fuel the fire, said Douglas LeBlanc, an Episcopalian who reported on Robinson’s consecration when he was an editor at Christianity Today.
“I’m sure there might be some conservatives who might say, ‘We told you so all along, if you depart from church teachings on homosexuality, you’re opening the door to all kinds of chaos,’” LeBlanc said. “In many ways, I think you are. But I think it’s imperative to say, the House of Bishops is not lacking on heterosexual sin.”
The Episcopal Church’s deliberations on same-sex marriage will likely continue regardless of Robinson’s divorce, LeBlanc said. Some, though, might seize on the news of his divorce.
“People will perhaps rub his nose in this for the rest of his life when he’s debating folks on the sexuality wars,” LeBlanc said. “It probably won’t shock a lot of people and will sadden a lot of people, too.”
Robinson is no longer the only openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Mary D. Glasspool was consecrated in Los Angeles in 2010.
In the past decade, the Episcopal Church followed the decline in other mainline Protestant denominations and lost about 10 percent of its members. It had about 1.8 million members in 2012, the last year for which statistics are available.
This is not an attack, but you’re still an Episcopalian??
It’s just too weird to even comment on...
It might seem strange to some.
My father's family was Episcopalian. My mother's family was profoundly puritanical, as was she; I never liked puritanism. I love the Episcopal Church for many reasons, one of which is its reasonable and practical approach to the divine. It has given me a structure of sorts from which to find deeper and deeper understandings, the foolishness of many Episcopalians notwithstanding.
Jesus Christ is my Guide and the only One to Whom I will entrust my immortal soul and rely upon--unconditionally--to lead me and protect me from any and all evil influences; I trust His guidance absolutely and completely. I made the commitment to follow Him wherever He should lead me at a very early age. I have never wavered. He has never let me down; on the contrary, He has brought me to a place very close to heaven on this earth. This commitment has taken me through many unexpected experiences and away from the Episcopal Church to a great extent but ever nearer to God.
This is deeply personal for me. I tell you this because I believe your question is sincere and one that I would not disregard.
"...and I thought this odd, considering the Founding Father of the Church of England..."
“Great, now we can get an abortion!”
Who gets custody of the butt plug?
You think a gay bishop getting divorced is too weird to comment on?
I raise you a former DRAG QUEEN running as a conservative Republican for the State Senate in North Carolina.
http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80103738/
“Steve Wiles, 34, performed as “Miss Mona Sinclair” at Club Odyssey, the Winston-Salem Journal reported this weekend.”
He’s a minor primary challenger to an incumbent who’s sure to win.
The Jon Stewarts and Chelsea Handlers of the world will have a field day with this if they haven’t already.
“...You think a gay bishop getting divorced is too weird to comment on?...”
Yeah... overall, I think the whole damn fact that we ARE this far along the path to lunacy is too damned weird...
It’s just pathetic overall.
I’m pretty sure that when my old man and his band of brothers parachuted and glider-assaulted into Germany, making the world safe for psychosis like this wasn’t uppermost in their minds, ya know?
And besides... the last time a “Queen” was “dragged”... I think it was Marie Antoinette... dragged kicking and screaming to the guillotine.
(sorry.... had to...)
Now you have me wondering how the hell the word “drag” became associated with cross dressing.
Beats the hell outta me, brother.
Some slang from “back in the day” or whatever, who knows...
Lol! Good one.
I am still nondenominational currently with Mosaic church on MS gulf coast.
http://mosaicgc.com/ Ocean Springs campus.
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