The Anglican Communion's first openly gay bishop has received a standing ovation at the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham. Gene Robinson's call for a sexual ethic based on integrity and trust was greeted with prolonged applause.

The Greenbelt Christian festival in Cheltenham has attracted over 15,000 participants despite attacks from conservative campaigners opposed to the invitation of a gay bishop.

The USA's premium cable channel has expressed regret for not broadcasting an invocation by openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson for the televised Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.

The openly gay US bishop whose consecration in 2003 polarised the worldwide Anglican Communion, says he believes that one day the Church will regret its rejection of homosexuals the way that it now regrets its past support for slavery.

The openly gay Anglican Bishop of New Hampshire in the USA has spoken today of his sadness for a protester who interrupted his sermon on Sunday - urging Christians to overcome prejudice and fear with love.

Gene Robinson, an openly gay US Anglican bishop whose 2003 consecration has deeply divided worldwide Anglican Communion, says African critics who describe homosexuals as "worse than beasts" are using the kind of language once employed in the United States to justify slavery.

The future of the 77 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion was complicated further last night (16 December 2006) with the announcement that two large evangelical congregations in the US have voted to break away from the Episcopal Church, primarily because of its decision three years ago to consecrate a gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.