New Hampshire’s Episcopal bishop was barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting so he wouldn’t become a focus of the global event.
Anglicans on all sides of the issue agree: the strategy has backfired.
Gene Robinson, the first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop, has been embraced by sympathetic Anglicans in England and Scotland who view his exclusion as an affront to their Christian beliefs.
Robinson plans several appearances on the outskirts of the Lambeth Conference to be what he called a "constant and friendly" reminder of gays in the church.
Robinson said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press he’s not will to let the bishops meet and pretend that gays and lesbians don’t exist.