Gene Robinson rejects Report of Lambeth Conference Attendance

Controversial Homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, has spoken out against claims reported by Associated Press that he will attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference in a defiant act to oppose other bishops.

Many Bishops within the tense Anglican Communion have stated that they would boycott the gathering altogether if Robinson attended.

The London-based Associated Press previously reported on Robinson under the headline; "Gay Bishop to Attend 2008 Anglican Conference". Within the article the news agency stated, "New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who lives openly with his male partner, has said he plans to attend the conference, even though bishops who believe the Bible bans gay sex have said they would boycott the event if he attended."

In response to this, Bishop Robinson has requested a retraction, and in a released statement he points out that only those clergy that are formally invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams could attend. He further stated that these invitations had not yet been sent out and so it was impossible to say who would attend the conference.

The gay Bishop, who many accuse of instigating the anxious situation in the denomination at this time when he was ordained as the first homosexual bishop in the Anglican Communion, has issued no further statements to the press regarding the conference since October.

2008 will be the most significant meeting for the denomination in the next few years, and a New York Times article reported, "The [Windsor] report also says that given the widespread unacceptability" of Bishop Robinson's ministry in some provinces, the archbishop of Canterbury should "exercise very considerable caution in inviting or admitting him to the councils of the Communion."

"Bishop Robinson said he had expected such a recommendation, and had written to the archbishop offering to attend the Lambeth Conference in "a diminished capacity" not as a bishop, but perhaps as an observer or nonvoting member."

Robinson has held onto his decision to offer to Rev Rowan Williams to attend the conference by invitation in a "diminished capacity".