Religious Groups Still Divorced on Civil Union Issue

Author: Megan Michelson

When the U.S. Episcopal House of Bishops voted to appoint the first ever openly homosexual bishop on August 5, 2003, it spawned a conflict between religious establishments and their opinions of gay and lesbian communities worldwide. The House of Bishops voted 62-45 to select the Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Since Robinson's nomination, protests have been voiced everywhere from the United States to the conservative Anglican dioceses of the Episcopal Church in Asia and Africa. In Vermont, however, Episcopal churches have taken a more liberal and accepting view of Robinson and other gay and lesbian issues in the news.

For a state that has experienced its fair share of controversy surrounding gay and lesbian rights, it may come as a surprise that Vermont's Episcopal Churches remain so supportive. During the extensive debates following the civil union bill of April 2000, which granted the right to a civil union to same-sex couples within the state of Vermont, many religious leaders and organizations stepped up to voice their opinions.

Rev. David Stertzbach, leader of the Vermont Defense of Marriage Committee, may have been one of the most outspoken against civil unions. Sterzbach contributed to a letter writing effort to the state's Republican House and Senate members aimed at repealing the civil union law. The attempt ultimately failed to gain support. He was quoted in the media as calling civil unions "a moral Sept. 11 for both major [political] parties."

Religious organizations such as the National Christian Coalition continued to claim an anti-civil union stance even years following the legislation. In an interview with The Middlebury Campus, Keith Mauck, the national youth director of the Christian Coalition, stated, "We are still opposed to civil unions. Realistically, now what we're focusing on is getting conservative candidates who oppose civil union elected in the state."

Despite conflicting sentiment in the past, there are currently religious institutions, particularly some Episcopal churches, which maintain an accommodating relationship with gays and lesbians and offer a progressive stance on the more recent controversial issue of Rev. Robinson's appointment.

Beth Robinson, founder of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Taskforce, explained her understanding of Vermont's Episcopal churches and their support of gay and lesbian communities. "In Burlington and in other areas of the state, there are Episcopal churches that have been not only supportive of gay and lesbian people but have been at the vanguard of the Freedom to Marry movement in Vermont. We've seen, up in Burlington, more than one lesbian priest at the Episcopal Cathedral, even here in Middlebury, Rev. Nichols at St. Stephen's Church has been quite supportive.

I think that these are issues that the Episcopal community in Vermont has addressed in a big way already, so I think that the Gene Robinson issue may not have been as much new news. By and large, the Episcopalian community in Vermont has been supportive of including gay and lesbian people, although I'm sure that that's not universal."

The Episcopal Church has 2.3 million members and belongs to the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion of churches in over 160 countries and with over 77 million members. With such an extensive membership, universal opinions are difficult to find. But here in Vermont, a fairly overarching opinion toward an obviously sensitive subject seems to be applicable.

Rev. Bob Macauley, the priest-in-charge at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Vergennes, is eager to claim his support of the appointment of Rev. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire as well as his approval of the legalization of civil unions. The topic of homosexuality in general has been discussed at great lengths within Macauley's congregation. "We recently had a long three-hour discussion in the parish in which we discussed the relevant biblical passages that conservatives take as condemning same-sex relationships. We found most of them to be either ambivalent or even in support of such relationships," said Macauley. St. Paul's Church follows a resolution passed in 1998 that states, "We recognize that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation...We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptized, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ."

Macauley was quick to state that there is certainly no universal agreement concerning these notoriously controversial issues. "There are Episcopal churches in other states that are very much against the issues related to gays and lesbians. But in Vermont, the majority of our lay and clergy priests voted in favor of Gene Robinson," he said.

The American Anglican Council is a national network of individual, parishes, ministries and Episcopal Bishops that works to affirm Biblical authority and Anglican orthodoxy within the Episcopal Church. They are one such organization that has been actively striving to reduce support for Gene Robinson's appointment. They have asked members to cut off donation payments and protest in response to an issue they claim goes against the teachings of the Episcopal Church.

Macauley, however, reminds those fighting against the appointment of a gay bishop that the issue was brought to vote in a fair and egalitarian manner. "We are a democracy. Our elected officials voted in an overwhelming majority for the appointment of this bishop. So conservatives can't say that this issue doesn't represent majority opinion," said Macauley, he said.

Rev. Nichols commented in an e-mail interview with The Campus, "The Episcopal Chuch has people who are totally opposed to gay and lesbian ordination and people like me, who are totally in favor or gay and lesbian ordination.

I am thrilled that my friend Gene Robinson will be the next bishop of New Hampshire, the first out gay bishop in the Episcopal Church."