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By Jim Naughton
Washington Window
Vol. 77, No. 8, September 2008
Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the only openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, was not invited to the Lambeth Conference by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, but dominated its media coverage for days at a time.
Robinson preached to a crowd of more than 500 at St. Mary's, Putney in London on the Sunday before the conference. That weekend he did more than 20 media interviews and appeared on every national television outlet, in every major British daily and on most of the radio outlets of the British Broadcasting Corporation. His sermon, which was interrupted by a heckler, was broadcast live in its entirety by the BBC's 24-hour news channel. The New York Times and Washington Post also profiled Robinson.
On the day after his sermon, Robinson and the actor Sir Ian McKellen co-hosted the English premier of "For the Bible Tells Me So," a film by Dan Karslake. The film, which drew some 850 people to the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, shows conservative Christian parents, including Robinson's own, coming to terms with a child's homosexuality.
During the conference, the bishops of the New England province of the Episcopal Church hosted two receptions at which bishops from around the Communion could meet Robinson. The receptions were attended by some 200 people, organizers said.
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