Lesbian elected Episcopal bishop in L.A.

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By Julia Duin

Canon Mary D. Glasspool of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland was elected bishop on Saturday in a close race against a Los Angeles-area Hispanic cleric, making her the Episcopal Church's first openly lesbian bishop.

It was not until the seventh ballot that Ms. Glasspool, 55, an Annapolis resident, captured the election for the second of two suffragan-bishop positions in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, beating the Rev. Irineo Martir Vasquez of St. George's Church in Hawthorne, Calif., and four other candidates.

The 2.1-million-member denomination paved the way for her election last summer when it lifted a moratorium on electing gay bishops after the election of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson six years ago caused a split in the 70-million-member Anglican Communion.

The majority of world Anglicanism opposes openly homosexual clergy, and a majority of Anglican bishops voted against allowing them at the 1998 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops in Canterbury, England.

But the U.S. Episcopal Church ignored that sanction, selecting Bishop Robinson in 2003, causing an estimated 100,000 Episcopalians to flee the denomination to more conservative churches. Four dioceses also have pulled out of the denomination in protest. They and an estimated 60 churches are entangled in lawsuits with the Episcopal Church in a fight to keep millions of dollars' worth of property and real estate.

Ms. Glasspool had 153 clergy votes, with 123 needed to win, and 203 lay votes, with 193 needed to win. Mr. Vasquez had 87 clergy votes and 177 lay votes.

Soon after her victory was announced at about 2:45 p.m. Pacific time, she appeared on stage in front of delegates at the Riverside Convention Center with her partner of 21 years, Becki Sander.

"Gracias con todo mi corazon," she said to a standing ovation. "Thank you with all my heart. It is such an honor and a privilege to be among you wonderful people of the Diocese of Los Angeles. I'm deeply and forever grateful for the trust you've shown in me ... ."

Before she can be consecrated on May 15, 2010, she will need consents from a majority of the country's 100 domestic Episcopal dioceses.

It was a weekend of firsts for the 70,000-member Los Angeles Diocese, which before this weekend never had a female bishop in its 114-year history despite the Episcopal Church having had women in the episcopate since 1988.