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First Openly Gay Bishop Gene Robinson Announces Divorce

Published

10 years ago

May 5, 2014

Former Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson has
announced that after 25 years of marriage, he and his
husband Mark Andrew are getting divorced. Robinson came out in 1986, and was elected Bishop by the New Hampshire diocese in 2003—he retired last year. In a piece for the Daily Beast, Robinson details the decision and how it has affected him. He writes:
It is at least a small comfort to me, as a gay rights and
marriage equality advocate, to know that like any
marriage, gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages
between heterosexual couples. All of us sincerely intend, when we take our wedding vows, to live up to the ideal of “til death do us part.” But not all of us are able to see this through until death indeed parts us.
My belief in marriage is undiminished by the reality of
divorcing someone I have loved for a very long time,
and will continue to love even as we separate. Love can endure, even if a marriage cannot. It will take a lot of work, a lot of grieving, and a large measure of hope to see it through. And that’s where my faith comes in.
Robinson’s coming out in 1986 was a predictably divisive move in the Episcopal Church, and being elected bishop was no different, putting him on the receiving end of various disparaging comments and even death threats.
But regardless of gender identity, divorce is a difficult
time, so all the best to Robinson and Andrew.