Gay Civil Unions or Partnerships Not Full Equality, Says Bishop

Gay Civil Unions or Partnerships Not Full Equality, Says Bishop


Gay Civil Unions or Partnerships Not Full Equality, Says Bishop

Gene Robinson launches his book in UK


By UK Gay News | 5/10/2008
I have been puzzled by a strange fact—that a largely conservative, rural small-town diocese such as New Hampshire should have elected a man in an open, monogamous relationship with another man.

The words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is never slow at coming forward in support of equality and acceptance of gay men and women both within the Christian church and in society in general.

These words form the first sentence of a powerful foreword of Bishop Gene Robinson’s new book, In the Eye of the Storm, a reflection on his journey of faith, his life experiences, the concerns that matter most to him as a bishop and the controversy that has rocked the church he loves and to which he is committed.

The book itself is equally powerful as the foreword. The openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire sets out his values—and offers a way forward in the equality battle faced by Christian gay men and women.

Reading the book, one gets an impression of a really pleasant man. This was confirmed at a meeting.

The opening gambit: “What is the correct way to address a bishop of the American Episcopal Church?”

“Gene would do very nicely,” the bishop suggested.

The conversation soon drifted into the subject of marriage—same-sex marriage and the machinations of the all-powerful conservative Religious Right who “thump the pulpit” at every opportunity about what they call ‘the gay agenda’, which includes marriage equality for same sex couples.

They scream about “the sanctity of marriage”, yet not a murmur when a pop star goes to Las Vegas for a weekend, gets married in a civil ceremony and then has it annulled after a couple of days.

“At the moment, Britney Spears [goes the pop star in question] says ‘I do’—and receives some 1,100 rights and protections,” the Bishop says when asked how he felt about that particular situation.

“Yet my partner and I who have been together for 20 years do not receive those same protections,” he continues. .................

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