When the Reverend
V. Gene Robinson became the Episcopal Church's bishop
of New Hampshire in 2003, it set off a controversy over
homosexuality in the worldwide Anglican Communion that
continues unabated today. Robinson made headlines
again on August 2, when he threw his support behind Sen.
Barack Obama for president, the first time the clergyman has
ever endorsed a political candidate. That the two are
both outsiders of their respective
institutions--Obama as a black man who's positioned
himself as the antidote to politics as usual in
Washington, Robinson as a gay man seeking the full
inclusion of gay people in a church with many
hostile factions--is evident enough. But as Robinson
tells The Advocate, it was Obama's
vision for a united America that really compelled him
to sign on.
How did your endorsement of Obama come about? Did
his campaign approach you? Did other campaigns approach you?
Robinson: The Obama campaign is the only one
who has approached me, but I've been interested in Senator
Obama from the very beginning. This is a crucial
election, and I'm so concerned with the polarized
state of the nation. I was looking for a candidate who
talked credibly about reconciliation, consensus
building, and collaboration--and not just about
winning. I'm looking for a leader, not for a
business-as-usual politician. I must say, in my encounters
with the senator, I think he has what it takes to
bring us together as a nation. I don't agree with him
on everything--I'm sure he'll say things in the
future that I don't agree with--but I believe that the
spirit with which he is going about this is a wholly
different thing than we've seen before.
So his vision for America and his desire to rise
above the political fray really resonates with you?
I'm sure he has
plenty of publicity folks who coached him on this, but
their slogan is "Obama for America," and I hear him talking
more about Americans than I do about the Democrats
winning. I'm not naive, but he really does seem to
have a vision much larger than that. I also love the
fact that he's lived overseas, he's been a part of another
culture, and frankly, that as a person of color, he
knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of
bigotry and prejudice. I think it would be quite a
novel thing to have someone in the White House who actually
knows what that feels like.
The implication is that the other candidates don't
know what that feels like. Is that what you mean?
Well, I'm going
to try very hard to say what I think about Senator Obama
and not about the other candidates. I just feel it very,
very strongly: he's a healer rather than a divider.
We've had enough division.
He's tried to position himself as an outsider to
the Washington establishment in the same way that you're
an outsider to the Anglican Communion. Did that
parallel endear him to you even more?
I haven't thought
about that, but I do think that finding yourself on the
outside gives you a greater sensitivity to those who find
themselves on the outside for whatever reason. For the
last two years we have neglected, if not made worse,
the lives of those who are on the fringes, and I'm
looking for a candidate who is going to take that very
seriously. I learned from my outsider
status--there are great lessons to be drawn from
that experience--and I do find that in Senator Obama.
What's your sense of him as a person of faith?
One of the things
I trust most about his faith is that he came to it as
an adult. Many of us grew up in the church and for all
intents and purposes never strayed very far. But he
was quite nonreligious until he got into community
organizing, and it was seeing the role of the church
in those communities and the role of faith in the lives of
the people affected that actually brought him to the
church. I like that about him. I also like the way he
describes the role of religion in civil discourse. I
have values that were shaped by the church, and I'm looking
for a candidate who seems to embody those values. Not
to create a theocracy, but in terms of who I want
leading the country--and for me, that's Barack
Obama.
Critics point out that he doesn't have an extensive
voting record on LGBT issues as compared to some of the
other candidates, so he's a bit of an
unknown--even though he supports most of our
issues, except for marriage equality. Does that concern
you at all?
All of the
Democratic candidates are very good on these issues, and
none of them is as good as they ought to be, and he
falls into that category. He and I have talked about
this personally and I have told him that I will be
pushing him on gay marriage while at the same time being
grateful of his support for civil unions. His
particular journey, both personal and political, I
don't think has given him a lot of opportunities to have
a track record, but what I can tell you is that the warmth,
generosity, and enthusiasm with which he has welcomed
me and the way he talks about LGBT issues makes me
very comfortable with him.
Can you describe the meetings you had with him?
I had a phone
conversation with him, and I've had two personal meetings
with him. The thing that really surprises me is what a good
listener he is. He asks a question and then actually
appears to be listening to you answer it, as opposed
to thinking about who else he's supposed to be talking
to.
Did you discuss what's going on with the Episcopal
Church and the potential schism?
In our first
meeting he laughingly referred to me as a troublemaker, and
I laughed and said, "Well, that makes two of us,
doesn't it?" He laughed and said yes. I'm
always telling my clergy to get into some gospel
trouble. I think if you're getting into trouble for the
right things, that's just fine.
What will be the extent of your involvement in the
Obama campaign? Will you appear at campaign events, for instance?
That's still to
be determined. I have a day job, and that obviously keeps
me quite busy. Roughly, I think I will be behind the scenes.
I don't expect to be out on the stump with him, and
while I might offer him some advice when asked, my
real focus and my real reason for getting into the
campaign is our contribution through being the
first-in-the-nation primary--the way that we can
impact the election more than the actual vote.
With New Hampshire's important early role in the
primary season, your endorsement sends a clear message
to the LGBT community, doesn't it?
I know that both
of the Clintons have been extremely supportive of us,
not perfect, but very supportive, and I think the default
position for a lot of LGBT folk is Hillary's
candidacy. But I wanted to do this early and say, "At
least give this guy a look. There's something very new,
very different, very exciting." And I must say, I haven't
heard anyone as inspiring and visionary as Barack
since JFK. I really mean that. I don't know how he
pulls it off, but when he talks about bringing the
country together, it doesn't sound like hype, it doesn't
sound like schmaltzy political talk--it actually
sounds possible and doable. And I want to be a part of
it.
