On December 5th cheers reverberated across the country with the news that at the 114th annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles two women were elected as bishops- Rev. Diane Jardine Bruce of California, and Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool of Maryland.

While both elections bring their own controversy, Glasspool�s keeps the church�s issue of queer bishops front and center.

If both women are approved by a majority of bishops their elections will signal that the U.S. arm of the Episcopal Church is aggressively moving forward on both gender and gay justice.

But for many Episcopalians of color the issue of racial and diversity justice still hangs in the balance as many of their urban ethnic churches struggle to survive. With nearly one-half of L.A.�s population Latino concerns arose with the election of two white women over Latino candidates.

�There was this feeling that once an Anglo woman had been elected Friday, maybe we should support a Latino candidate,� said the Rev. Brad Karelius, one of the senior priests of the L.A. diocese. �But the two Latino candidates did not have the leadership depth I saw in Mary and Diane.�

The election for bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles was a fiercely close race between Glasspool and the Rev. Irineo Martir Vasquez of St. George's in Hawthorne, CA.

Given the theologically conservative make-up of the laity and Spanish-speaking congregants of the L.A. Diocese a lot of support went for Vasquez. According to the Rev. Altagracia Perez, rector of Holy Faith Church in Inglewood, CA diversity was an issue for some of the delegates who supported Vasquez's candidacy. However, Glasspool had 153 clergy votes, with 123 needed to win, and 203 lay votes, with 193 needed to win. Vasquez had 87 clergy votes and 177 lay votes.

The issue of diversity in the governance and election of bishops in the Episcopal Church is of great concern to congregants of color in light of shifting racial and ethnic demographics in big urban cities like L.A.

And with the shifting demographics from white to ethnic groups of color the Episcopal Church, perhaps unintentionally, has chosen to build up one ethnic or minority church over another. And, too often, it feels to many ethnic churches of color that they are always pitted not only among themselves, but also against white queers.

For example, the unresponsiveness to dying black urban churches is emblematic of the Episcopal Church's ineptitude to grapple with the ways that racism and classism choke not only the spiritual life out of a church but its monetary life as well. With the Episcopal Church's urban landscape changing, the denomination has opted to pour its support, money, and energy not into these historic black churches but instead into developing urban Latino churches. The gentrification of the urban church by replacing one minority group with another sets up a paradigm of �divide and conquer� that makes neither group feel welcomed, but both expendable.

�Those Latino churches are set up like a 'reservation system' within the Episcopal Church,� said Juliana Gutierrez, a lesbian Mexican American who worships in an Episcopal Church in Chicago told me.

Comprised primarily of a migrant population from all over Latin America, these newcomers form missionary congregations set up by the Episcopal Church. Unlike parishes, missionary congregations are not free-standing: they cannot call their own rector, and cannot make their own decisions. According to Gutierrez, these missionary congregations have a paternalistic relationship with the Episcopal Church because they are not only dependent on the church for monetary support but also for a place to worship. Oftentimes Episcopal churches seek to remedy the tension by devising �separate but equal� worship hours between Spanish-speaking missionary congregations and English-speaking parishes that must share the same facilities. �The two groups come together only for special events and the Eucharist,� Gutierrez said.

I have my own queries for the Episcopal Church, dubbed by many as the �ruling class at prayer,� with respect to its urban churches, including:

A joint survey by the Pew Hispanic Project and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that the emergence of Latino-oriented churches are changing the country�s religious landscape not only in the Catholic Church but also in the Protestant Church.

The survey also reports, �While the prevalence of Hispanic-oriented worship is higher among the foreign born, with 77% saying they attend churches with those characteristics, the phenomenon is also widespread among the native born, with 48% saying they attend ethnic churches.�

The L.A. Diocese began its outreach ministry in the 1940�s to Latino immigrants.

Holy Family Church in North Hollywood was the first Latino congregation in the diocese.

Queer Latino Episcopalians like Gutierrez feel tore in a church that has elected either white queer or Latino heterosexual bishops.

Glasspool is fluent in Spanish, has served in urban cities across the country and is not a single-issue cleric. She told a reporter at the annual convention that the church is ready to go beyond � �superficial characteristics and boxes in which we put people, to really look at individual people and assess the needs of the diocese and pair them with the gifts and skills that Diane and I each bring. In that sense, in all ways, we are moving to a point where we can look beneath the skin color and any single characteristic and really rejoice in the wholeness of every individual person.�

However, for Gutierrez the post-racial revolution hasn�t come. Gutierrez wants to see more Latinos in church leadership roles because race still matters.

Lesbian Priest Re-ignites Church Storm

Rev. Irene Monroe

Since the 2003 consecration of the Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the church�s first openly gay bishop, that set off a worldwide firestorm of reactions, both positive and negative, the recent election of an openly lesbian candidate, the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool of Baltimore, as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles will re-ignite the storm once again.

And her election hangs in the balance.

Under the canons of the Episcopal Church a majority of bishops must consent to Glasspool�s ordination for the selection process to be complete.

A graduate of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and the former rector of St. Luke�s and St. Margaret�s in Boston, Glasspool, 55, if approved will be the eighth suffragan bishop in the history of the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Glasspool�s election has already brought immediate concerns to the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Issuing a cautionary statement in response to the Diocese of Los Angeles' election of Glasspool Williams stated the following:

Although Williams denounces anti-gay prejudice in the church Glasspool�s election is the prism through which we see the Episcopal Church�s long-time struggle and history with homosexuality.

Williams candidly told the Episcopal News Service �changing the Anglican theological position on homosexuality would have to be based on the most painstaking biblical exegesis and on a wide acceptance of the results within the Communion.�

And that acceptance won�t come easy.

Since Robinson�s consecration, the Anglican Communion Network (ACN), also known as the �Breakaway Conservatives, is a theologically conservative network of dioceses and parishes that has been working toward a realignment in U.S. Episcopal Church. These Breakaway Conservatives feel liberal bishops have hijacked the church by both �accommodate[ing] and incorporate[ing] un-Biblical, un-Anglican practices and teaching.�

But �authority of Scripture� doesn�t hold weight in the argument against homosexuality because the Episcopal Church has always challenged controversial issues of the day.

In the 1970s, the argument for authority of Scripture came up with the ordination of women � and so, too, did the threat of a schism. But in 1989, the Church consecrated its first female bishop � Barbara C. Harris. And conservatives were not only theologically outraged, but also racially challenged because Harris is African American.

And in 2006, gasps of both exhilaration and exasperation reverberated throughout the Anglican Communion when it was announced that Katharine Jefferts Schori would be the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA. Schori not only supports gay unions, but she also backed the holy consecration of Robinson.

All this is no surprise, however, since the Episcopal Church has a history of taking the moral high ground on social justice issues.

On the theological rift concerning American slavery, the Episcopal Church rebuked the Bible�s literal interpretation, arguing that slavery violated the spirit of the Bible.

Boston's Old North Church, built in 1723 that played an active role in the American Revolution, served as a beacon for Paul Revere�s �midnight ride.�

The Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland, Maryland was a major stop on the Underground Railroad, and both Trinity Parish on Wall Street, and St. Paul's Chapel, that George Washington attended, has become the spiritual center of Ground Zero since 9/11.

The Episcopal Church prides itself as being an inclusive worshiping body. And it is drumming up a new national ads campaigns stating �The Episcopal Church Welcomes You� with specific examples of the Church�s beliefs.

�We want to herald and share our welcoming message,� explained Anne Rudig, Episcopal Church Director of Communication told the Episcopal News Service. �We are bringing our identity, our core beliefs, and our heritage to life in a manner that invites all to share.�

With the changing demographics, both nationally and globally, of this ecclesial body, the Church�s once-upon-a-time ruling �Frozen Chosen,� whose anti-gay initiatives had a stranglehold on the Church�s governing future is beginning to wane.

While many LGBTQ Episcopalians and their allies are jumping for joy over Glasspool�s election the battle isn�t over.

For me, however, the joy in this moment in the history of the Episcopal Church is that the Church continues to crawls toward inclusiveness, albeit haltingly and in spite of opposition.

And for those of us on the margins in our churches and faith communities, Harris, Robinson, Jefferts Schori and now Glasspool show us the church�s steadfast principle of justice in action.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, the Rev. Irene Monroe, is a religion columnist, theologian, and public speaker. A native of Brooklyn, Rev. Monroe is a graduate from Wellesley College and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, and served as a pastor at an African-American church before coming to Harvard Divinity School for her doctorate as a Ford Fellow. She was recently named to MSNBC�s list of 10 Black Women You Should Know. Reverend Monroe is the author of Let Your Light Shine Like a Rainbow Always: Meditations on Bible Prayers for Not-So-Everyday Moments . As an African American feminist theologian, she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. Her website is irenemonroe.com. Click here to contact the Rev. Monroe.