Those who have met him say their first impression of Canon Gene Robinson is that he seems like a typical vicar.

The diocese has stood with Gene Robinson

His appearance is neat - short auburn hair, clean shaven and with a pressed jacket over his shirt and dog collar - and his manner reserved if friendly.

His home life is said to be equally unassuming, with many nights spent at his place in a small New Hampshire town, perhaps cooking or watching television and keeping in touch with family and friends.

But Canon Robinson lives openly with another man and his homosexuality is threatening to create a schism within the Anglican Church.

Opponents denounce his life as an abomination of the Bible's teachings, his supporters say his work is an excellent example of Christianity.

But it was a life that so nearly hardly began at all.

Gene Robinson arrived in the world in 1947 after a long and very difficult delivery. The doctor in Lexington, Kentucky, asked his parents for a name for both the birth and the death certificates.

Charles and Imogene Robinson had been preparing for a girl and - reckoning it did not matter much - gave their sickly child the names they had picked out for a daughter - Vicky Imogene.

But the baby got stronger, overcame paralysis and lived to go home to the farm where the Robinsons worked as tobacco sharecroppers.

Questions and therapy

As a schoolboy he began to realise that he might be different from others - he has spoken of how he reacted differently to Playboy magazine from his friends - but also that it was not something to be open about.

While studying at the University of the South in Tennessee, Gene Robinson became enamoured of the Episcopal Church with its history, liturgy and music which was absent from his childhood services at the Disciples of Christ church.

GENE ROBINSON Born 1947 in Kentucky Turned to the Episcopal Church in college Married after seeking counselling for suspected homosexuality Divorced amicably after realising he was gay Has been involved with same man for 15 years Popular Church leader who has run youth camps and support groups for teens questioning their sexuality

He began to consider a career in the clergy but still wondered if he was gay. He had relationships with women but admitted - if only to himself - that he was also attracted to men.

Amid the uncertainty, the young man remained convinced that he wanted to marry and have children.

He sought therapy to change himself while studying at the General Theological Seminary in New York and believed himself ready to commit to a woman when he met Isabella Martin while on an internship at the University of Vermont.

But he still explained to her his concerns about his sexuality though he did believe the therapy had helped.

They married and Canon Robinson took a job as a curate in New Jersey before they moved to New Hampshire in 1975.

The couple had two daughters - Jamee and Ella - and the clergyman set up successful youth programmes and ran a retreat.

In 1985, Canon Robinson again began to think about his sexuality and, after counselling, he and his wife decided they should separate.

When it came time to divorce, they released each other from their wedding vows, asked each other's forgiveness and committed themselves to the future of their children for whom they had joint custody.

Close family

Eighteen months later, when Isabella had remarried, Canon Robinson met and began to date Mark Andrews who subsequently moved to New Hampshire where the couple have lived together for more than a decade.

By all accounts, the extended family remains close - at the wedding of his elder daughter, Canon Robinson's partner led his ex-wife down the aisle.

Times have changed since they first set up house together in the small town of Weare, and Canon Robinson and Mr Andrews no longer have to be anything but open about their sexually active relationship.

Canon Robinson seems beloved by his congregation and his diocese which elected him bishop from a wide range of candidates.

They have stood by him throughout the storm his appointment has stirred up in the wider Anglican Church and simply ask that he should be judged - and celebrated - for the work he does.

Canon Robinson says he is fully aware of the problems his election has brought for the wider Church, but believes it is God's will and that the faithful can work through it.

He says he prays hard for answers, but seems to have a fairly measured attitude to his own role.

"I'm neither the devil that one side would make me out to be, nor the angel that the other side would make me out to be," he told the BBC.