First lesbian elected as bishop by Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese; Canterbury releases joyless reaction
”I believe the people of the diocese, by the grace and power and influence of the Holy Spirit, went beneath skin deep, went beneath the superficial characteristics and boxes into which we put people to really look at individual people.”
Mary D. Glasspool, 55, who has just been elected by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. She is the first out lesbian to become a senior assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion which is headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. Earlier in the day, the LA Diocese elected the its first woman to the same post, Diane M. Jardine Bruce. The Anglican Communion, which has some 77 million members, has struggled for several years since the New Hampshire Diocese elected Reverend Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop. The Diocese of Massachusetts recently approved the performing of same-sex weddings. Several conservative congregations in the US have left and/or be ejected from the Episcopal Church after pledging their loyalty elsewhere because of the Episcopal churches progressive evolution on gay and lesbian issues. (LA Times)
”The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole. The process of selection however is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.”
Statement from Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury in England regarding the election of Los Angeles first female bishop, Mary Glasspool, who is also a lesbian. Williams has been struggling to maintain a unified organization ever since Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was elected the first gay male bishop. The main problem for the Anglican Communion appears to be between the mostly accepting Episcopal Church of America and the rather hateful reaction from African church leaders, especially in Uganda where Henry Orombi has successfully drawn the loyalty of socially conservative Episcopal congregations away from their American leadership. He regularly equates being gay with being a pedophile. Orombi, according to reports, is a supporter of a bill that is currently sailing through the Ugandan legislature that calls for the imprisonment and execution of gays in that country, as well as imprisonment for anyone who does not report anyone they know who is gay. Others report that the larger Anglican Church of Uganda released a statement that they cannot support the execution aspect of the bill. (Archbishop of Canterbury)
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