American cleric and activist Gene Robinson was BOTD in 1947. Born Vicky Gene Robinson in Lexington, Kentucky, he was seriously ill as a baby and not expected to survive. He grew up in poverty and was raised in the Disciples of Christ. He won a scholarship to study at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he he joined the Episcopal Church. In 1972, he married Isabella Martin with whom he had two daughters. After being ordained as an Episcopalian minister in 1974, he and Martin moved to New Hampshire. The following year, he and Martin moved to New Hampshire, running a retreat centre and a camp and horse farm. He worked as a Youth Ministries Coordinator for the Episcopal Church, promoting clergy wellness programmes and helping reconcile congregations in conflict. In 1987 he openly declared his homosexuality, and he and Martin amicably divorced. The following year, he formed a relationship with Mark Andrew, eventually entering a civil union in 2008. He was consecrated as the Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, amid vigorous opposition from conservative clergy. The resulting controversy made him internationally famous, and he became a vocal spokesperson for reconciling Christian doctrine with LGBT equality. His experiences, relationships and belief were profiled in the 2007 documentary For the Bible Tells Me So and his 2008 memoir In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God, significantly boosting his international profile. In 2009 he led a ceremony preceding the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and was instrumental in changing church policy to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian priests. In his 2012 book God Believes In Love, he drew on theology, social science, and personal experience to make an argument for same-sex marriage. He retired from the New Hampshire bishopric in 2013, citing the negative pressure of fame on him and his diocese. In 2014, he and Andrew announced their divorce. Robinson lives in Washington, D. C., where he works for the Center for American Progress and is bishop-in-residence at St Thomas Parish. He continues to be an active spokesperson for LGBT equality within the church.