In his comments to the clergy, Lipscomb stressed that he had concerns about the way the church is handling the split over the ordination of the openly gay Gene Robinson as a bishop in New Hampshire, but still supports staying on board.

"I'm back from the general convention a very frustrated bishop," Lipscomb said. "I don't think we did what was asked of us. We didn't even pretend to do what was asked of us."

Lipscomb said he is embarrassed about the infighting in the church, but acknowledges its problem. "Homophobia, violence against persons because they are homosexual, the exclusion of people from the life of our church because they are gay, lesbian or transgendered, is not acceptable in the Diocese of Southwest Florida," Lipscomb said.

Sarasota's Church of the Redeemer, with a congregation of 1,700 - the largest in a 78-church diocese that stretches from Brooksville to Marco Island - had its vestry vote earlier this month on whether to ask the diocese to consider having a different primate assigned to them from outside the United States, the Rev. Fredrick Robinson of Church of the Redeemer said Tuesday.

The vote came in at 12-0 for an alternative oversight, Robinson said. By requesting to be supervised by a more conservative branch, Church of the Redeemer leaders are still voicing their consternation over the election of Gene Robinson as bishop in 2003, Fredrick Robinson said Tuesday.

"We would like the bishop to reconsider," Robinson said. Robinson said his church leaders are not opposed to Gene Robinson, just his actions. "It's not the fact that he is a homosexual," Robinson said. "He is a homosexual who acts out on his inclinations and is living in a partnered relationship. He left his wife and children several years ago to pursue that lifestyle."

--Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at rdymond@HeraldToday.com or at 708-7917. http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/15017436.htm