Gay bishop speaks out on report

Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church USA, said yesterday that gays and lesbians will continue to be ''second-class members" of the Anglican Communion so long as it attempts to prevent the consecration of other gay bishops and the blessings of same-sex couples.

Speaking out for the first time since Monday's release of a report that rebuked the Episcopal Church for consecrating him as a bishop, Robinson said he feels positive about the report, but also somewhat isolated by its suggestion for a moratorium on the ordination of other gays and lesbians as bishops. He balked at the report's assertion that his episcopate is ''widely unacceptable," asking why the church doesn't use similar language to describe bishops who make statements he considers to be antigay.

Robinson said that despite the controversy caused by his consecration, he continues to believe he did the right thing in standing for election as bishop of New Hampshire. He said he will continue to allow New Hampshire priests to bless same-sex unions, although he might not continue to perform them himself. He also said he plans to attend the global Lambeth conference of the Anglican Communion in 2008, although he is open to negotiating the exact terms of his attendance if a compromise would make it possible for bishops who oppose him to attend.

''Gay and lesbian people will take much comfort from parts of this report, while continuing to unfortunately have to fight for our rightful place in the church," Robinson said. ''It is true that until these issues are resolved, gay and lesbian people in the church are second-class members, and that injustice is never going to be all right . . . But the reason you're hearing us be positive is that I think everyone believes we are inexorably moving forward on this issue."

Since the release of the so-called Windsor Report, prepared by a commission appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury, many Episcopalians have expressed hope that the Anglican Communion, made up of 38 provinces including the Episcopal Church USA, can find a way to stay together despite its bitter differences over the role of gays and lesbians in the church. The report rebuked the Episcopal Church USA for its consecration of Robinson, and the Anglican Church of Canada because a diocese there authorized a rite for blessing same-sex unions. But the report also rebuked bishops from the developing world who have attempted to intervene by offering to perform sacraments or otherwise minister to conservative Episcopalians in the United States.

Some conservatives have expressed disappointment in the report, especially the influential archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who said the report ''fails to confront the reality that a small, economically privileged group of people has sought to subvert the Christian faith and impose their new and false doctrine on the wider community of faithful believers."

Locally, conservatives expressed similar concern. The Rev. William L. Murdoch, the dean of the New England convocation of the Anglican Communion Network, a conservative organization, said the report is ''strongest in its analysis and weakest in its recommended actions -- the recommendations were very mild." But Murdoch, who has maintained a positive relationship with the bishop of Massachusetts, M. Thomas Shaw, despite serious theological differences, said, ''I hope we can keep the conversation going," and said he hopes a gathering of Anglican primates in February will push for stronger action.

Shaw, who welcomed the report, said he has already heeded one of its recommendations by agreeing to provide alternative oversight for some local conservatives. Shaw said he has agreed to allow a Canadian bishop, the Right Rev. Donald F. Harvey of the Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, to oversee the Church of the Holy Trinity in Marlborough.

Robinson, who spoke to the Globe in a telephone interview from New York, said that despite some concerns, he felt ''really positively" about the report, saying, ''I think it's respectful of all the church's members, and I think it actually does provide us with a way to stay at the table with one another, to remain in communion."

But Robinson said he had several concerns about the report.

''I must say, to be honest with you, it a little bit took my breath away when I first read through, when I read the part about the moratorium on gay and lesbian people being elected to the episcopate," he said.

And Robinson said he was concerned that the report paid so much attention to the concerns of conservatives who oppose gay rights, and so little to the concerns of gay and lesbian Christians.

''The report describes, very movingly, the difficulty and pain experienced by people in various parts of the Communion over my consecration," he said. ''What is not ever mentioned is the pain that gay and lesbian people have suffered at the hands of the church for countless centuries, and I would have thought a mention of that, and even a call for an expression of regret about that pain, would have been in best interests of communion."

Robinson said he is already expressing regret for the controversy caused by his consecration, in response to a call for such statements in the report. But, he said, he makes no apology for his willingness to serve as a bishop.

Robinson appeared to be most concerned over one element of the report -- its description of ''the widespread unacceptability of his ministry in other provinces of the Communion." Noting that similar language is never used to describe bishops who criticize gays, he referred specifically, although not by name, to Akinola of Nigeria. Akinola has been quoted saying, ''I cannot think of how a man in his senses would be having a sexual relationship with another man. Even in the world of animals, dogs, cows, lions, we don't hear of such things." He has also been quoted calling Robinson's consecration ''a satanic attack on the Church."

''Is it really acceptable for the archbishop of Nigeria to describe gay and lesbian people as lower than the dogs?" Robinson asked. ''Is it acceptable . . . to say that my consecration is a satanic attack on the church? I mean, if we're going to start arguing about acceptability, you know that sword cuts both ways."

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.