Gene Robinson

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Gene Robinson bigraphy, stories - Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire

Gene Robinson : biography

29 May 1947 –

Vicky Gene Robinson Robinson states his birth name as Vicky Gene Robinson from his grandfather Victor and his mother Imogene; as a baby he was not expected to survive and his parents were expecting a girl. Various reliable sources also reported "Vicki" and "Imogene". Robinson and most reliable sources use V. Gene Robinson. (born May 29, 1947 in Fayette County, Kentucky) is an American retired bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor in 2003 and succeeded as diocesan bishop in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he served as Canon to the Ordinary to the VIII Bishop of New Hampshire. 

Robinson is widely known for being the first priest in an openly gay relationship to be consecrated a bishop in a major Christian denomination believing in the historic episcopate.Otis Charles is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. After his retirement in 1993, Charles publicly came out as a gay man, the first Christian bishop ever to take such a step. His sexual orientation was privately acknowledged in the 1970s, when he studied in seminary, was ordained, married, and started a family. He went public with his sexual identity and divorced in 1986. He entered a formal relationship with his current spouse in 1988. When delegates to the Episcopal convention were voting on the ratification of his election, it became an issue of controversy. His election was ratified 62 to 45. After his election, many theologically conservative Episcopalians in the United States have aligned themselves with bishops outside the Episcopal Church in the United States, a process called the Anglican realignment. His story has appeared in print and film.

In 2009 he was given the Stephen F. Kolzak Media Award. He has announced his intention to retire in 2013, at 65. His successor is A. Robert Hirschfeld, who was elected bishop coadjutor on May 19, 2012 and consecrated bishop in Concord, New Hampshire on August 4, 2012. Hirschfeld served with Robinson until Robinson’s formal retirement on January 5, 2013.

After consecration

Reports from the UK describe how Robinson has received death threats, had to wear bulletproof vests, and needed protection since his election and consecration.

In February 2006, Robinson was treated at an inpatient rehabilitation facility to deal with his "increasing dependence on alcohol". Diocesan officials were surprised by the news and asserted that they did not notice his alcoholism affect his ministry in any way. The Episcopal Church, through its General Convention, has long recognized alcoholism as a treatable human disease, not a failure of character or will. The members of the Standing Committee issued a statement fully supporting Robinson. He returned to work in March 2006.

Robinson was featured prominently in a documentary film entitled For the Bible Tells Me So, which screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2008, Robinson said that he had led a retreat a few years before for gay Catholic priests. He has opposed the Roman Catholic ban on homosexual seminarians, stating: "I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries."

Due to the controversy surrounding his consecration, Bishop Robinson was not invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conferences by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. A group of conservative bishops (including Akinola and Duncan) who opposed Robinson’s consecration gathered in Jerusalem one month prior to Lambeth 2008, at the Global Anglican Future Conference, an event which is perceived by some as schismatic.

Robinson did however visit the United Kingdom privately in July 2008, during which he participated in a film screening and question and answer session with Sir Ian McKellen at the Royal Festival Hall, and was invited to preach at St Mary’s Putney, events which attracted much media attention. The sermon was interrupted by a heckler who was then escorted out of the service. Robinson asked the rest of the congregation, most of whom greeted the interruption with slow-clapping, to "pray for that man", before completing his sermon. The Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, on July 22 at a public press conference during the 2008 Lambeth Conference called for Robinson to resign, and for all those who had participated in his consecration to confess their sin to the conference.