From the 8/1/03 WashPost:
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 1--The Rev. V. Gene Robinson, whose election as a bishop has led to threats of schism in the Episcopal Church, told delegates to a church convention today that his relationship with another man is "sacramental," just like marriage.
Robinson, 56, spoke lovingly of his 13-year committed relationship with Mark Andrew, 50, at a confirmation hearing in which opponents warned that the naming of the first gay Episcopal bishop would violate 2,000 years of Christian teaching and undermine marriage.
Supporters, including Robinson's ex-wife and daughter, praised him as a man of honesty and said his June 7 election by Episcopalians in New Hampshire had sent a message of inclusiveness that ultimately would strengthen the church, just as the election of the first woman bishop did in 1989.
After 90 minutes of testimony on both sides, a joint committee of bishops, clergy and laity voted to send Robinson's nomination to the floor of the convention, which meets every three years and is modeled after the U.S. Congress. It has two chambers, a House of Deputies and a House of Bishops, which are expected to vote on Robinson's nomination early next week.
Asked by an opponent to explain why God created male and female sexuality if not for procreation, Robinson said, "I believe that God gave us the gift of sexuality so that we might express with our bodies the love that's in our hearts. I think that's true of marriage, and I think that's why we hold marriage to be a sacrament."
But, he added, "I just need to tell you that I experience that with my partner. In the time that we have, I can't go into all the theology around it, but what I can tell you is that in my relationship with my partner, I am able to express the deep love that's in my heart, and in his unfailing and unquestioning love of me, I experience just a little bit of the kind of never-ending, never-failing love that God has for me. So it's sacramental for me."
Robinson sat next to his partner during the hearing in a packed ballroom at a downtown Minneapolis hotel. One of his two daughters, Ella Robinson, told the delegates that her parents had divorced amicably, and that "two months after my mother was remarried, dad met Mark, and soon he joined our family."
She said she and her sister had fond memories of playing cards, going to the park and baking brownies -- "all that normal family stuff" -- with her father and his partner. "Although it's an unusual family, it's one so full of love for one another," she said.
She also read part of a statement from her mother, Isabella McDaniel, which was prompted by a report in a British newspaper that Robinson had abandoned his family to run off with another man. "This simply is not true," McDaniel wrote.
"In fact," she said, "we spent many sad and long years trying to figure out how we could stay together, despite his living into his sexuality." When their marriage ended, she said, they promised to protect and cherish each other while continuing to co-parent their two daughters.
"Gene Robinson is a good man, a good priest, a good husband and partner, and a good father," McDaniel concluded. "I am proud to have been married to him. I am proud to have him as the father of my daughters. I am proud to be associated with him. Mostly, I will be proud to have him be the Bishop here in New Hampshire and in the Episcopal Church."
Other supporters testified that Robinson, who has served for 16 years as canon, or assistant to the bishop of New Hampshire, is known throughout the state as a warm counselor and skilled administrator.
The Rev. Randolph K. Dales, an Episcopal priest who was involved in the diocese's selection process, told delegates that "in this very conservative state there was no -- there could be no -- dioscesan agenda or gay agenda. Rather, we prayerfully chose a person whose ministry, whose talents, we know. The choice was of a person. It was about a ministry, not an issue. We voted overwhelmingly to call Gene Robinson for his humanity, not his sexuality."
Many of the speakers who opposed Robinson's nomination agreed that he was a fine man, but said that his character and talents were not the issue.
"Gene, I love you, and this is painful," Bishop Keith Ackerman of the diocese of Quincy, Ill., began. He went on to argue, however, that the Episcopal Church in the United States "cannot change 2,000 years of traditional Christian teaching" and "not expect serious consequences."
-------
Rest of story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12505-2003Aug1.html