The California Diocese recently announced its nominations of two out gay individuals to become the next Bay Area Episcopal bishop, including Chicago’s out lesbian Rev. Bonnie Perry.
Perry, rector of All Saints Church, and Seattle’s Very Rev. Robert Taylor are the two gay individuals among included in a list of five nominees. ‘The election, as we understand it, is we are electing a spiritual leader,’ said Rev. Jack Eastwood, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. ‘That means there are a number of qualities we are looking for quite beyond sexuality.’
The nominations go against the Anglican Communion’s 2004 recommendation on putting a moratorium on the ordination of lesbian and gay bishops in active same-sex relationships.
According to Eastwood, there isn’t much the Anglican Communion can do because each diocese operates independently. It is unclear how divisive the election of a gay or lesbian bishop will be this time around. The 2003 election of openly gay New Hampshire bishop Gene Robinson caused a schism in the Anglican community.
‘It still will be [divisive], and what exactly will happen is hard to say,’ Eastwood said.