US church agrees to install first gay bishop

US Episcopalian bishops voted on Tuesday to install the church’s first openly gay bishop, triggering a protest by conservative opponents who have threatened to split the global Anglican denomination.

After an 11th-hour delay on Monday prompted by allegations of sexual misconduct against New Hampshire Bishop-elect Gene Robinson, church leaders cleared him and 62 of the 107 bishops voted to approve his election. Forty five voted against.

The allegations that delayed Monday’s vote by the bishops focused on a Vermont parishioner’s charge that Robinson had sexually harassed him during a conference a few years ago.

Questions also arose whether Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced father of two, bore responsibility for pornographic links to a website for a group for troubled teenagers he helped found