Bishop Robinson is famous internationally as a champion for human rights, and as the first priest in an openly gay relationship to be consecrated a bishop in a major Christian denomination. He was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire on June 7, 2003 and was consecrated a bishop on All Saints Sunday, November 2, 2003. After a decade serving as bishop of New Hampshire, Robinson worked as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, speaking and writing on national and international LGBT issues, race, poverty, and immigration reform. He currently serves as Bishop-in-residence at St. Thomas’ Parish, Washington, D.C.
Bishop Robinson has done AIDS work around the world and authored three AIDS curricula. He has been particularly active in the area of full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, and other marginalized communities, and has spoken and lobbied for equal protection under the law and full civil marriage rights.
His first book, In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God, was published in 2008. In 2012, he authored God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage, contributing to the national debate about marriage equality. He has been the subject of two feature-length documentaries: “For the Bible Tells Me So,” which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and “Love Free or Die,” which also premiered at Sundance, in 2012, winning the Special Jury Prize.
Bishop Robinson graduated from the University of the South in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in American studies and history. In 1973 he completed a master of divinity degree at the General Theological Seminary in New York, and was ordained deacon and then priest. He holds two honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards from national civil rights organizations.
