A battle royal is brewing in the Episcopal Church as conservatives vow to overturn the election of the church's first openly gay bishop. The Rev. V. Gene Robinson was elected last Saturday in New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop in the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church. Last week, a newly appointed Church of England bishop who never publicly disclosed his homosexuality was outed by a British newspaper.
Under church rules, Robinson's election needs to be certified by delegates and bishops at next month's General Convention legislative meeting in Minneapolis. Conservatives said they have already laid the groundwork to oppose Robinson's election.
"We definitely will be fighting this hard when it gets to convention," said Bruce Mason, a spokesman for the conservative American Anglican Council. "The bishops in particular are outraged at what happened — not at the man in particular, ...