Gene Robinson - Coming Out and Career

Coming Out and Career

Robinson came out to his and Boo's friends in 1985/1986 and he sold out his part of the business to Boo. They remain friends. In November 1987, Robinson met his partner, Mark Andrew, while on vacation in St. Croix. Andrew was on vacation and worked in Washington, D.C., at the national office of the Peace Corps. On July 2, 1988, Robinson and Andrew moved into a new house and had it blessed by Bishop Douglas Theuner, an event which they considered to be the formal recognition of their life together. Andrew currently works in the New Hampshire state government. He was legally joined to Robinson in June 2008 in a private civil union ceremony, followed by a religious ceremony, both in St Paul's Church, Concord. Earlier, Robinson had said, "I always wanted to be a June bride."

Robinson became Canon to the Ordinary in 1988, the executive assistant to the then bishop of New Hampshire, Douglas Theuner. Robinson remained in this job for the next seventeen years until he was elected bishop. Robinson and his daughters are very close. Ella actively helped her father with public relations at the General Convention in 2003. Just a week before the General Convention, Robinson had been with his daughter Jamee and held his four-hour-old first granddaughter. He now has two granddaughters.