Bishop Otis Charles - gay rights advocate - dies

The Rev. Otis Charles became the first bishop of any Christian denomination to come out as gay. The Rev. Otis Charles became the first bishop of any Christian denomination to come out as gay. Photo: Courtesy Of Otis Charles Family Photo: Courtesy Of Otis Charles Family Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bishop Otis Charles - gay rights advocate - dies 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In more than six decades as an Episcopal priest and bishop, the Rev. Otis Charles was an advocate for the underdog, including those left out of the church hierarchy such as women, lesbians and gays.

In 1993, he publicly made the gay rights cause his own, and in the process became the first Christian bishop to come out as gay.

Keeping quiet

"I was ashamed of myself for remaining silent when the church was involved in an acrimonious debate about the whole question of gay people in the life of the church. I couldn't live with that any longer," the Rev. Charles told The Chronicle in a 2004 interview after a wedding ceremony with his partner in a San Francisco church, a marriage that California didn't recognize. They married again in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal in the state.

The Rev. Charles, who spent 15 years as the Episcopal bishop of Utah and later co-founded Oasis California, a statewide lesbian and gay ministry, died Dec. 26 in his San Francisco home. He was 87.

A native of New Jersey, he was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1951. As a young clergyman in Connecticut, he met former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and thanked her for her work on behalf of African Americans - "one of the great moments in his life," said David Perry, who was married to his male partner by the Rev. Charles in 2008 and considered himself a member of the bishop's family.

"If there was a community and a cause that required an opening of spirit and church, Otis Charles was right in the forefront," Perry said. "He was the most relentlessly joyful and nonjudgmental person I ever met."

The Rev. Charles became a member of the Episcopal Church's congregational leadership in 1971 when he was elected by church delegates as the bishop of Utah.

Five years later, he told his wife, Elvira, that he was gay. While advocating for gay rights within the church, he remained silent publicly about his own sexuality for the next 17 years, fearing, as he explained in the 2004 interview, that the exposure would be too hard on his wife and family as well as the diocese.

He came out shortly after announcing his retirement in 1993, and the couple divorced after 42 years of marriage. They have five children.

The Rev. Charles retained his bishop's rank after his retirement and remained a member of the church's 300-delegate House of Bishops. In 1999, he was arrested and led away in handcuffs at the national Episcopal convention in Denver in a protest over the church's treatment of gays and lesbians.

Four years later, the Rev. Charles was a delegate to the Episcopal convention that approved the election of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, the first openly gay person to serve as an active bishop.

Rejection, acceptance

The U.S. church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which rejects same-sex marriage and decrees that gay and lesbian members should be celibate. Most other denominations with bishops as leaders, including the Roman Catholic, United Methodist and Mormon churches, exclude gays from that position. But in May the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the largest Lutheran denomination, elected its first openly gay bishop.

The Rev. Charles was also active in antiwar causes, and as bishop opposed government plans to make Nevada and Utah launching sites for the MX missile.

After leaving the Utah post in 1986, he served as president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. In 1993, he moved to San Francisco, where he rejoiced, as he recalled in the 2004 interview, in "walking down the street, seeing a rainbow flag or two men holding hands."

He directed a gay ministry, and, at age 76, met Felipe Sanchez-Paris, a retired professor and political organizer. They took part in a church wedding ceremony in 2004, then married officially in September 2008. Sanchez-Paris died in July.

The Rev. Charles is survived by five children - Christopher Charles of Washington, Conn.; Nicholas Charles of Woodland (Yolo County); Emilie Charles of Salt Lake City; Timothy Charles of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Elvira Nelson of Salt Lake City - 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Jan. 11 at St. Gregory of Nysaa Episcopal Church, 500 DeHaro St., in San Francisco.