Gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson told the BBC that there have been plenty of physical threats against him since he took his position in New Hampshire.
“I'll be coming to the Lambeth Conference, and there have already been threats against me and others…This has been going on ever since I was elected Bishop of New Hampshire, and I have to take them seriously. Certainly the authorities take them seriously.”
Robinson is in the UK promoting his new ‘spiritual memoir' In the Eye of the Storm
“Jesus never says anything about homosexuality, but he says a lot about treating every person with dignity and respect. All the biblical appeals for a particular attitude to homosexuality can never quote Jesus…The Church isn't the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Only God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Church has always been changing. The Holy Spirit is leading us into truth. And I believe we have learnt that about people of colour, about women, about those who are disabled and now about lesbian and gay people.”
Robinson says that he sees all the attention he gets as a kind of duty:
“Occasionally I don't like the probing and the questioning. But I put up with it because I grew up in a time when there were no role models. To be gay and lesbian was to be a failure. The good gay people killed themselves. And the others were drug addicts and bums. There was no possibility for a life of integrity or respect. So I feel called to be as open as I can be about my life so that young lesbians and gay men will understand that they can have wonderful relationships, be mothers and fathers and make a real distinction for themselves in their careers. I owe it to those who come after me.”
Gene Robinson: ‘It is a sin to treat me this way' [telegraph]
Gay US Anglican bishop speaks of physical threats against him [afp]
