The first openly gay Episcopal bishop in the U.S., Gene Robinson, whose ordination caused a split in the global Anglican community, has announced that he and his partner of 25 years are divorcing.

The BBC is reporting on the split of Robinson, 67, and his partner, Mark Andrew, who have been living together since 1988 and were married in a civil ceremony in 2003.  In the same year, Robinson was ordained a bishop in the New Hampshire diocese, a move which would eventually cause the global Anglican communion to rupture.

In the U.S., hundreds of clergy and their parishes broke away from the Episcopal church - which is the name of the Anglican communion in the U.S. - and formed the new Anglican Church in North America.

Robinson, who is now retired, considers himself to be a gay rights and same-sex marriage advocate.

"It is at least a small comfort to me, as a gay rights and marriage equality advocate, to know that like any marriage, gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages between heterosexual couples," Robinson wrote on the Daily Beast.  "All of us sincerely intend, when we take our wedding vows, to live up to the ideal of 'til death do us part.' But not all of us are able to see this through until death indeed parts us."

He added: "My belief in marriage is undiminished by the reality of divorcing someone I have loved for a very long time, and will continue to love even as we separate," he said. "Love can endure, even if a marriage cannot."

Robinson was previously married to Isabella "Boo" McDaniel, with whom he had two children. The two divorced in 1985.

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