Gene Robinson's nobody's sideshow! After being denied invitation to the international Anglicans' Lambeth Conference this summer, the openly gay Bishop issued a statement that he will not be attending - not officially, at least.

Rather than giving Robinson a notable role, the international Communion, led by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, offered Robinson up for interviews with the media gods.

The "sick-hearted" Robinson, however, wasn't having it:

One workshop on one afternoon and being interviewed by the secular press was not anything I was seeking. I wasn't going to Lambeth to have another interview with the secular press. If interviewed at all, I want to talk with a theologian. I want to talk about the love of Christ. I want to talk about the God who saved me and redeemed me and continues to live in my life.

Despite his tough talk, Robinson will pop into the Lambeth Conference as an "outside observer." Those gays just love to get up in the drama!

Robinson also urges other Anglican leaders to attend and fight for their gay brethren: "You must go. You must find your voice… You have to find my voice and the voices of all the gay and lesbian people in your diocese who, for now, don't have a voice…"

Some Caribbean nations had a very gay anti-gay weekend!

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Americans for "Truth" leader Peter LaBarbera ain't happy with C-Span: "I'm wondering why C-SPAN chose to re-air a long speech by homosexual activist and Episcopal Bishop Vicky Gene Robinson on Christmas Eve, one of the most sacred days on the Christian calendar." Because they're not backward bigots?

The Anglican Communion continues to feel the gay squeeze.

Things started getting messy in 2003 when the American upstarts in the Episcopal Church ordained openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson. The conservatives were none too happy and a number of congregations, including some here in the United States, decided to form an anti-gay alliance.

Things may get even more messy this week after a Canadian Bishop Cyrus Pitman firmly suggested that any clergy looking to secede from the Communion should take a hike: "I would expect any clergy involved in the network and working to the establishment of a parallel jurisdiction to the Anglican Church of Canada would do the honorable thing and resign their positions."

Them's fighting words - and trust there will be a fight.

The Anglican Communion's gay debates continue into the new year. Episcopal leader Katharine Jefferts Schori spoke out this week against the Anglican Communions scapegoating of their American cousins:

[Schori] says her church has been unfairly singled out for criticism because it is honest about consecrating gay bishops.

Jefferts Schori told BBC Radio 4's "PM" program that the New York-based church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., is far from the only Anglican province that has a bishop with a same-sex partner. In 2003, Episcopalians elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, causing an uproar that has pushed the Anglican family toward a split.

"He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop; he's certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop," Jefferts Schori said in an interview broadcast Tuesday. "He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who's open about that status."

Anti-gay Anglicans, meanwhile, will hold a right wing conference to boycott the movement's Lambeth Conference in London. These rabble-rousers are displeased with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' queer double talk.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams won't back down: neither gay bishop Gene Robinson, nor turn-coat Martyn Minns can attend the Anglican's Lambeth Conference next year:

The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he will not reverse his decision to exclude a gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglican gathering next year.

Archbishop Rowan Williams' office said he had also not changed his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a traditionalist U.S. priest who was consecrated as a bishop in the Church of Nigeria.
…
"Given the differences in response to the Episcopal Church revealed in the responses of the primates, we simply cannot pretend that there is now a ready-made consensus on the future of relationships between (the Episcopal Church) and other provinces," Williams said. "Much work remains to be done."

Those Americans are always complicating things, huh?

Breaking from the national Episcopal's "gay restraint," the California Diocese vowed to continue blessing same-sex unions. Bishop Marc Andrus said in a written statement:

I will continue to represent the Diocese in the ongoing Church and Communion-wide conversations on the full inclusion of LGBT people. I think the resolution properly augments my pastoral goal of caring alike for all of the people of the diocese, not reinforcing damaging distinctions.

The move should come as no surprise: Andrus has continually fought for gay rights and supports openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson, whose ascension sparked the international row.

"You are not going to hell,” Gene Robinson told a group of 160 gay Mormons last Saturday. The gay Episcopal Bishop appeared at the Affirmation Conference, which dealt specifically with the conflict between one's faith and their sexuality. In addition to reaffirming the Mormons' position, the controversial bishop, whose 2004 consecration split the Anglican Communion, Robinson shared a bit of his own coming out:

I got into therapy for two years, twice a week to change myself. You can see how effective that was. By the end of those two years I felt ready to have a relationship with a woman.

Robinson eventually married and had two children, but the couple divorced thirteen years later.

Holy photo op! Controversial gay Bishop Gene Robinson posed with director Dan Karslake and actress Jane Krakowski before the NYC premier of Karslake's For The Bible Tells Me So.

A look into the often anti-gay world of Christianity,the documentary attempts to reconcile the chasm between the Bible and Christianity. And, from what we hear, leaves quite an impact. Read all about it here!

The Episcopalians have spoken! As we mentioned in yesterday's Happy Endings, the American Anglicans finally voted on the "gay issue".

After years of internal debate, which began with the 2003 consecration of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson, the Church will exercise "restraint" in officiating gay clergy.

The Americans also promise,

[We will] not to authorize or use in our dioceses any public rites of blessing of same-sex unions until a broader consensus emerges in the Communion or until (the) General Convention takes further action.

That action won't come until 2009, when the gang gets together for their next convention.

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Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president R. Albert Mohler, Jr. on gay Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson:

Here we have a classic expression of an individual asserting his own autonomy over biblical authority. Gene Robinson does not really care what the Bible has to say about his homosexuality. Indeed, he has conceded that the Bible condemns homosexual activity, but also asserts that the Bible should not have the last word in the matter. To the contrary, Robinson and his allies package his election and consecration as bishop as a great moral advance as the Episcopal Church (USA) leaves the dark ages of sexual repression and enters the brave new world of celebrated homosexuality.
…
Robinson may now claim his office as the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, but his real claim to fame will be as the theologian-in-residence of the Church of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We'd say we're surprised by Mohler's claims, but we're not. We expect as much from a man who champions anti-gay genetic cleansing.

Peter Akinola and other anti-gay Anglicans may soon get a new punching bag. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago included openly gay Rev. Tracey Lind on their shortlist for the Windy City's new bishop.

New Hampshire caused an international - and ongoing - religious incident when they inducted Gene Robinson back in 2003.

Robinson's ascension riled up conservative leaders, such as Nigeria's Akinola, who are urging the international Communion to take a firmer stance on the fagalas.

Gay Bishop Gene Robinson recorded a show for BBC yesterday during which he takes on Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola's anti-gay ways.

In an uneven, yet understandable, comparison, Robinson compares Akinola's mission to America's slave trade:

We in the US treated people who came out of Africa as less than human. We used scripture to justify this slavery and continued bondage. It is very, very painful to have those people in Africa in some sense using the same thinking against gay and lesbian people and against me.

Robinson's careful, however, to express his understanding of Akinola's homophobic perspective:

I believe that Peter Akinola…believes he is following his call to God as best he can. I just wish he could believe that I am following my call as best I can… I will not reject God’s call to me.

Maybe this God character should stop calling and send an email. Then people would have a better idea of what the hell he's talking about…

• Barack Obama's proud to have gay Bishop Gene Robinson's vote. Interfaith Alliance honcho, Reverend Welton Gaddy, however, isn't so pleased with Barack Obama's Robinson pride:

Today’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for president by Bishop Gene Robinson is just the latest example of candidates misusing religious leaders for political gain.

Holy smokes!

• Picture it: America, 2035 - God has smitten costume-wearing sex fiends. Gays become national treasure.

• Can Singapore's homophobia get any more ridiculous? The Media Development agency has censored a short story reading which included a story by gay author Ng Yi-Sheng:

Ng's text was disallowed as it had gone beyond good taste and decency in taking a disparaging and disrespectful view of public officers.

Ng's got at least one theory as to why the government banned his story: it included a politician called "Lee Low Tar," which sounds somewhat similar to PM Lee Hsien Loong.

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