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Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." In 2017, clergy within the Church of England indicated their inclination towards supporting same-sex marriage by dismissing a bishops' report that explicitly asserted the exclusivity of church weddings to unions between a man and a woman. At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
Barbara Clementine Harris was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. She was the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion. She was elected suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, on September 24, 1988, and was consecrated on February 11, 1989. Eight thousand people attended the service, which was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts. She served in the role of suffragan bishop for 13 years, retiring in 2003.
Drexel Wellington Gomez is a Bahamian Anglican bishop.
The Church of Nigeria North American Mission (CONNAM) is a missionary body of the Church of Nigeria (CON). It has been in a ministry partnership with the Anglican Church in North America but no longer affiliated with it beyond mutual membership in GAFCON. Founded in 2005 as the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, it was composed primarily of churches that have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). CANA was initially a missionary initiative of the Anglican Church of Nigeria for Nigerians living in the United States. It joined several other church bodies in the formation of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. In 2019, the dual jurisdiction arrangement with the ACNA came to an end, and CANA was reformed as CONNAM, with a special focus on serving Nigerian-American Anglican churches in North America.
The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over 54 counties in eastern Missouri. It has 42 congregations and is in Province 5. Its cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, is in St. Louis, as are the diocesan offices. The current bishop is Deon K. Johnson.
This article largely discusses presence of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and queer bishops in churches governed under episcopal polities. The existence of LGBT bishops in the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist and other traditions is a matter of historical record, though never, until recently, were LGBT clergy and bishops ordained by any of the main Christian denominations. Homosexual activity was engaged in secretly. When it was made public, official response ranged from suspension of sacramental duties to laicisation.
The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
Walter Cameron Righter was a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served the Diocese of Iowa from 1972 to 1988. He then served as assistant bishop for the Diocese of Newark from 1989 to 1991.
Alan Scarfe is a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He was the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Iowa, 2003 - 2021.
Kevin Pearson is an Anglican bishop. He served as the Bishop of Argyll and The Isles in the Scottish Episcopal Church from 2011 to 2020. In July 2020, he became the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway.
John A. M. Guernsey is a retired American bishop in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Previously an Episcopal priest, he was consecrated as a bishop of the Church of Uganda in September 2007 as part of the Anglican realignment, and transferred to the newly formed ACNA in 2009. From 2011 to 2023, Guernsey was the first bishop of ACNA's Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
George Wayne Smith is a bishop of the Episcopal Church. He previously served as the 10th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri from 2002 to his retirement in 2020. He was succeeded by the 11th bishop, the Rt. Rev. Deon K. Johnson, on June 13, 2020. He also served as Bishop Provisional for Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio from 2021 to 2024.
Andrew Donnan Smith was a suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut from 1996 to 1999, and diocesan bishop from 1999 to 2010.
Raymond Stewart Wood Jr. was a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served the Diocese of Michigan from 1990 to 2000 as its ninth diocesan bishop.
Peter David Eaton is the fourth and current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.
George Leslie Cadigan was seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri from 1959 to 1975. He was an alumnus of Amherst College.
James Lafayette Hobby Jr. is a former American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. He was elected the second bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh on 23 April 2016 and enthroned on 10 September 2016. He is married to Shari, also an Anglican priest, and they have three daughters.
Susan Bunton Haynes is the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, the first female bishop of the diocese.
References
- ↑ "Gay, married Barbadian priest elected Bishop of Missouri". Barbados Today . November 23, 2019. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
- ↑ "THE REVEREND DEON K. JOHNSON" (PDF). Real Episcopal. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
- ↑ "Ordination & Consecration of Deon Kevin Johnson" (PDF). Episcopal Diocese of Missouri . 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2020.