Washington, D.C. — Today the Center for American Progress announced that the IX Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, has joined American Progress as a part-time Senior Fellow.
Bishop Robinson will bring a well-respected religious perspective to framing and addressing various areas of public policy, including economic justice, immigration, LGBT rights, health care, and the environment.
“Bishop Robinson has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and courage during his decades serving the Episcopal Church as a pastor, and even longer being a champion of fairness and equality for the people of New Hampshire,” said John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress. “We are so pleased that his teachings will help inform our work.”
“I am honored to be joining the fine minds and dedicated hearts working at the Center for American Progress,” said Bishop Robinson. “CAP’s voice is an important one for progressive America—indeed, all of America—and I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to that collective voice."
V. Gene Robinson was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003, having served as canon to the ordinary (assistant to the bishop) for nearly 18 years. He was consecrated a bishop on All Saints Sunday also in 2003, and was invested as the ninth bishop of New Hampshire in 2004.
Bishop Robinson has been particularly active in the area of full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Working at the state, national, and international levels, he has spoken and lobbied for equal protection under the law and full civil marriage rights.
He is a past member of the board of the New Hampshire Endowment for Health, which works for access to health care for the uninsured, and he currently serves as a trustee of the Church Pension Fund. He holds two honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards from national civil rights organizations. His story is featured in the 2007 feature-length documentary, “For the Bible Tells Me So,” and his book In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God (Seabury Books, New York) was released in 2008.
He is a graduate of the University of the South, the General Theological Seminary in New York, and was ordained deacon and then priest, serving as curate at Christ Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
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