"If we confirm Gene Robinson as a bishop of the church, the unity of this house will be shattered forever."

Since the election of Gene Robinson, these churches have been a hotbed of resistance.

He had heard from many other congregants who either disagreed with his stand on Gene Robinson or who didn't know what to think.

Gene Robinson watches these developments with a mixture of sadness and alarm.

As it happened, Gene Robinson tried mightily to do just that.

"I was a seminary classmate of Gene Robinson's," he says.

No one views such a possibility lightly, and for Gene Robinson the struggle has not been without personal cost.

This was around the time of that election of Gene Robinson.

Gene Robinson and his ilk would argue that what happens "behind closed doors" is none of our business.

The first openly homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson, was elected in June 2003.