First Openly Gay Anglican Bishop Announces Divorce

Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop, is divorcing his partner and husband of 25 years, he announced Sunday.

In a post on The Daily Beast explaining his decision, the recently-retired Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire said he still believes in the importance of marriage even as he separates from Mark Andrew.

Robinson and Andrew entered into a civil union in 2008 and married in 2010 after New Hampshire legalized same-sex marriage, CBS reports. In 2003, Robinson was elected the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican church, a move that caused many conservative Episcopalians to break from the church.

“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,” he wrote. “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.”

[The Daily Beast]