Sometimes we GLBTs don’t know our own strength. Nothing illustrates that so well as the firestorm surrounding the recent confirmation of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese. Robinson (no relation to me, alas) is now the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop. The wails and threats that have met his confirmation are so intense you would think the church chose to elevate a marsupial to bishop. It’s just an out gay man who has been kicked upstairs. But that’s enough to throw people around the world into a tizzy. The next time you feel down because of the rude treatment GLBT folk receive, think of the effect one gay man wearing a collar — and it’s not even leather — is having on much of the planet. A lone homosexual from a small New England state is causing people as far away as Africa to spit nails.

I don’t know if that’s power exactly, but it certainly is impact.

The Episcopal convention in Minneapolis experienced emotional debate and eleventh-hour accusations before Robinson got the go-ahead. After the vote, Robinson’s opponents met for a prayer service near the convention — in a Lutheran church.

The man had just been approved, and already he was driving faithful Episcopalians to the Lutherans!

That IS power.

The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which is headed by the archbishop of Canterbury. A gaggle of conservative bishops in Minneapolis appealed to Anglican officials “to intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us.”

Robinson sparked a “pastoral emergency!” An emergency that had leaped across oceans before he so much as had time to practice saying, “I’m Bishop Robinson. I can help you with your soul, but please believe I know squat about decorating.”

A few days after Robinson’s confirmation, the archbishop of Canterbury called a summit of world Anglican leaders for October. He noted, “I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we will need to sit down and discuss their consequences.”

Imagine. There’s going to be a world summit over little old Gene. Anglican pooh-bahs from around the globe have to drop what they’re doing and rush to London, just because of one out gay man. I could get weepy.

Robinson continues to be a really big pea under an expanding mattress. Archbishop Bernard Malango of Malawi fumed, “We can’t support Canon Robinson’s election, because it is not compatible with our tradition and faith, and if they insist on having him as bishop, we will cut ourselves away from the operation of the U.S. church.”

Other African and Asian leaders are also threatening to cut ties with the American church. The Anglican Communion has 77 million members in 164 countries. At this rate, Robinson must be angering some five million people a day.

Such big numbers for one small person. The man should give lessons.

Archbishop Malango wants the African bishops to meet in September. Meanwhile, back in this country, Episcopal conservatives are scheduled to meet in October. And there’s that summit the archbishop of Canterbury called. This may be the greatest indicator of Robinson’s impact. Because of him, the entire Anglican world is mired in meetings.

Of course, I assume that the elevation of an openly gay man has sent such shock waves throughout the Anglican community because of a fear of gayness.

I strongly advise we gay folk not to let on that they have nothing to be afraid of. That Robinson is interested in serving God and mankind, and not in rewriting the Episcopal faith.

Don’t tell. It might not be much, but fear of us does sometimes provide us with a bracing portion of oomph.