Robinson: No one beyond God's love

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson is nothing if not quick on his feet.

On March 22, a crowd of more than 200 people turned out at Boston's Trinity Church to hear a speech by the New Hampshire clergyman. But before Robinson took to the lectern Trinity's Rev. William Rich told the crowd about the next event in the church's lecture schedule, a discussion of Charles Darwin, who Rich said "turned the church on its head" with the publication of The Origin of Species. When Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and a man whose election has pushed the Anglican Communion to the brink of schism, got up to speak, he wryly quipped, "I thought I was the one who turned the church on its head, not Darwin. I guess we all need to be taken down a notch, don't we?" The crowd burst into laughter and applause.

Robinson's 2003 election as bishop has prompted a contentious struggle within the Anglican Communion, leading to rifts between the Episcopal Church and more conservative branches of the communion in Africa and other parts of the world and prompting some conservative Episcopal congregations to break away from the Episcopal Church. Robinson told the crowd that despite the conflict his election has caused in some quarters, in others it has brought hope.

Robinson described a recent visit to Hong Kong in which he met a group of young LGBT Christians. He said the young people would go with their families to church on Sunday morning, but on Sunday afternoons they would gather in secret in a private high-rise apartment to hold a church service specifically aimed at LGBT youth where they could "bring in all of themselves to God."

Robinson said he attended the high-rise service, and at its end he found the prayer leader in tears, overwhelmed at having met an openly gay person who had been made a bishop.

"He said, 'That was the most powerful experience of the holy spirit I have ever had.' And I just held him while he wept. They knew things about me that I've forgotten; they knew everything about the Episcopal Church and our fight for inclusion of gay and lesbian people in our church. And for them this was a moment of hope. It says to them there's a church somewhere trying to be what they could only dream of," Robinson told the crowd. "We hear so often of the pain that the Episcopal Church has caused the rest of the world. Why is it that we don't hear about the hope we have given to so much of the rest of the world?"

During a question and answer session at the tail end of his speech an audience member asked what role he felt the Episcopal Church should play in fighting for LGBT rights. Robinson answered that one of the reasons he does media appearances and public speaking engagements talking about LGBT rights is to counter the efforts of the religious right to portray Christianity as uniformly anti-gay. And he said during the debates over the role of LGBT people in the church he has been moved by the Episcopal Church's willingness to support him and other LGBT clergy.

"Not to be too dramatic about it, but I think you see the Episcopal Church risking its life for us. Not perfectly, not as fast as we would like, but in a sense, you've read the newspapers, you've heard about the lawsuits, you know the difficulties that dioceses and bishops and people have had around the country because we believe that there is no one beyond God's love, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," said Robinson.

Following his speech Bay Windows spoke with Robinson about his evolution into one of the world's most prominent spokespeople for the inclusion of LGBT people in faith communities. Robinson said when he first became bishop of New Hampshire he resisted being pigeonholed as "the gay bishop," but he has since embraced the role.

"I have made my peace with that. For a long time I really resisted it, and what I have come to understand is this has given me an opportunity that I want to be a good steward of," said Robinson. "So instead of resisting being the gay bishop I now want to use that to its best advantage, and I realize it's given me an opportunity to speak out for LGBT people everywhere."