This Week in Christian History: Bob Jones, Gay Bishop, Puritan Missionary to Native Americans

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 28, 2018

Gene Robinson Becomes First Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop - November 2, 2003

This week marks the anniversary of when the Reverend Gene Robinson was consecrated as the first openly homosexual bishop of The Episcopal Church.

Robinson became head of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in a ceremony held at The Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire.

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Initially married to a woman with whom he had two children before they divorced, at the time of his consecration, Robinson had been in a same-sex relationship for the past 16 years.

Robinson's consecration caused division within both The Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion. Scores of congregations voted to leave the denomination in protest while some Anglican churches in the developing world severed ties with the American church.