I was pleased to read of the marriage of Bishop Gene Robinson and his partner of 20 years Mark Andrew. Well, not marriage actually, but civil union, the closest we allow gay men and women to get to the sacrament in most States in the US.
Bishop Robinson is Episcopalian (which is pretty High Church in the American protestant food chain), but even in that fairly liberal congregation being frankly gay has offended many. I’m especially pleased that he sets a good example to his many flocks. I ran in to the Bishop when we were both talking at the Hay Literary Festival in Wales last month. I happened to have on me a large number of chocolate flavoured condoms (as one does at a literary festival). I proffered these to the Bish — he howled with laughter and grabbed a large handful.
Now that he’s happily married, I hope he’ll save them for special occasions.
