NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR
BISHOP GENE ROBINSON
"During this last five years, God has seemed palpably close. That is the only thing that has enabled me to endure," says Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson, the first out, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination. And there has been plenty to endure, including death threats (he wore bulletproofing under his vestments at his ordination ceremony) and angry and virulent calls for his resignation from conservative bishops from around the world.Though Robinson's rural diocese of New Hampshire is small, the issues surrounding his election and ordination are global. "Given that the ‘issue' facing all religious institutions at this time is homosexuality, my election and consecration has crystallized that issue in a concrete way, not just for the Episcopal Church, but for the entire church worldwide," says Robinson. In 2008, the year of a pair of personal triumphs—he was joined in a civil union to Mark Andrew, his partner of 20 years, and he published his memoir, In the Eye of the Storm, with a foreword by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu—Robinson met another affront in the denial of his admission to the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade meeting of the world's Anglican leaders, by the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
