Mainline Protestant groups weigh policies affecting gay people

by Jeff Diamant/The Star-Ledger
Sunday August 16, 2009

It was Aug. 5, 2003, and bishops at the triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church had just voted for the first time to let an openly gay man become a bishop. Louie Crew of Montclair, active in Episcopal Church politics for decades, was there in Minneapolis and vividly remembers trying to hide his jubilation when Gene Robinson was made bishop of New Hampshire.

"We were under strict orders not to cheer," said Crew, who is gay, recalling the scene in the auditorium that day at the Minneapolis Convention Center. "We all respected the fact that it was a momentous decision that would be very painful to a large minority of the persons present. I don't think there was anybody that disrespected those restraints."

Still, to no one's surprise, keeping the Church together afterward has been a struggle.

Four Episcopal dioceses, in Fort Worth, Texas.; Quincy, Ill.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and San Joaquin, Calif., have split with the national church over the issue. African conservatives in the worldwide Anglican Communion, which the Episcopal Church is part of, have aligned with those departing U.S. dioceses. the rest