Mary Douglas Glasspool (born February 23, 1954) is an

assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

in the

Episcopal Diocese of New York The Episcopal Diocese of New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing three New York City boroughs and seven New York state counties.

. She previously served as a

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

in the

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is a community of 48,874 Episcopalians in 147 congregations, 40 schools, and 18 major institutions, spanning all of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and part of Rive ...

from 2010 to 2016. She is the first avowed lesbian to be consecrated a bishop in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

Early life, education, and personal life

Glasspool was born on February 23, 1954, in Staten Island, New York, to the Reverend Douglas Murray Glasspool and Anne Dickinson. Later, the Glasspool family moved to

Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange County ...

, where her father served as rector of St. James' Church until his death in 1989. Glasspool graduated from

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1976 and received her Master of Divinity degree from

Episcopal Divinity School The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) is a theological school in New York City that trains students for service with the Episcopal Church. It is affiliated with the Union Theological Seminary. Students who enroll in the EDS at Union Anglican st ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1981. In 2019, Glasspool referred to Becki Sander as her "spouse of 31 years".

Ordained ministry

Glasspool was ordained a deacon in June 1981 by Bishop

Paul Moore Jr. Paul Moore Jr. (November 15, 1919 – May 1, 2003) was a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal Church and former United States Marine Corps officer. He served as the 13th Episcopal Diocese of New York, Bishop o ...

and a priest in March 1982 by Bishop Lyman Ogilby. In 1981, Glasspool became assistant to the rector at St. Paul’s Church in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, where she served until 1984. She was the rector of St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Church in Boston from 1984 to 1992, was the rector of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Annapolis, from 1992 to 2001, and served as canon to the bishops for the

Episcopal Diocese of Maryland The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland forms part of Province 3 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Having been divided twice, it no longer includes all of Maryland and now consists of the central, northern, and western Maryland c ...

from 2001 to 2009. Glasspool was elected a bishop suffragan on December 4, 2009, on the seventh ballot at the 115th convention of the

in Riverside, California. On March 17, 2010, the Presiding Bishop's Office certified that her election had received the necessary consents. Glasspool was consecrated on May 15, 2010, in Long Beach, California, by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church,

Katharine Jefferts Schori Katharine Jefferts Schori (born March 26, 1954) is the former Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Previously elected as the 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, she was the first woman elected ...

. Glasspool is the first avowed lesbian to be elected to the episcopate in the Episcopal Church or in the larger Anglican Communion, and is also the 17th woman elected to the episcopate in the Episcopal Church. Her election has gained worldwide attention in the context of the ongoing debate about

gay bishops This article largely discusses presence of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and queer bishops in churches governed under episcopal polities. The existence of LGBTQ bishops in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and ...

in Anglicanism. She served as bishop suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles until 2016. In 2015, Glasspool accepted the invitation to serve the

,Episcopal Diocese of New York
"Bp Mary Glasspool to Come to NY as Assistant Bishop"
, November 14, 2015, accessed February 23, 2016. where she has been serving as an assistant bishop since 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glasspool, Mary Women Anglican bishops LGBT and Anglicanism LGBT Anglican bishops LGBT people from New York (state) American lesbians People from Goshen, New York 1954 births Living people Episcopal bishops of Los Angeles