US: Allegations which stalled a vote on the US Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop were withdrawn yesterday allowing for the vote to go ahead last night.
Rev Gene Robinson's election was delayed at the eleventh hour on Monday after allegations of impropriety were made against him. He was cleared of all allegations late yesterday.
Conservative Anglicans say if he is elected it will lead to a schism in the worldwide Anglican Church.
Rev Robinson (56) who is currently working at the church's diocesan headquarters in New Hampshire, was selected by New Hampshire Episcopalians to replace the present bishop of New Hampshire who retires next March. In the two-stage process of election that follows local selection, Rev Robinson was approved by a two to one margin in the first stage, making him bishop-elect.
His name merely needed to be ratified on Monday in a vote by Episcopalian bishops for his election to be complete.
However, in what Rev Robinson's supporters dub a "smear campaign", an e-mail accusing Rev Robinson of inappropriate "touching" was circulated only hours before the bishops met to vote. The e-mail, written by Vermont man Mr David Lewis (51), said that Rev Robinson "does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men" and that Rev Robinson "put his hands on me inappropriately every time I engaged him in conversation". Mr Lewis was referring to a meeting with Rev Robinson some years previously.
A second allegation emerged that Rev Robinson had an affiliation with a support group for gay teenagers that had links to pornography on the organisation's website.
In the wake of these allegations the Episcopal bishops delayed their vote and set up an investigation headed by Massachusetts Bishop Gordon Scruton. Delivering the findings of his investigation yesterday, Bishop Scruton found Rev Robinson not guilty of either allegation.
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US, Bishop Frank Griswold, announced that as Rev Robinson was clear of any blame, his election could proceed.
If Rev Robinson is elected, many conservative Episcopal bishops at the Minneapolis conference are expected to walk out. In a statement issued by the conservative "Anglican Mainstream", Anglicans from Kenya to India, England to Brazil said that they would be forced to"consider their position" in the church in the event of the appointment of a gay bishop.
The Anglican Church has approximately 77 million adherents and the issue of gay clergy has proved very divisive in the church in recent years, most notably in England.