'Now you know how we feel'

WASHINGTON -- The openly gay Episcopal bishop at the center of the Anglican debate over homosexuality said his church should reject demands to ban any more gay bishops and same-sex unions even if it leads to a break with the worldwide Anglican communion.

"Does anyone believe that our full compliance with the ... demands, our complete denunciation of our gay and lesbian members, or my removal as bishop would make all of this go away?" Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire said in statement.

Robinson said, "The Episcopal church may be experiencing a little taste of the irrational discrimination and exclusion that is an everyday experience of its gay and lesbian members."

Anglican leaders meeting in Tanzania last month demanded that the Episcopal church promise not to elect any more openly gay bishops or bless same-sex unions.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has called for a season of "fasting" from gay bishops and same-sex blessings in the U.S. church.

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