Sweden Ordains First Openly Lesbian Bishop

Eva Brunne, Sweden's first openly lesbian bishop, was sworn into her new role Monday, reports the Canadian Press. 

Just two weeks after it gave priests the right to wed same-sex couples, Sweden's Lutheran church said it had ordained its first openly gay bishop.

Brunne, 55, who is in a registered partnership and has a three-year-old son, is believed to be the world's first lesbian bishop. She was ordained as bishop of Stockholm's diocese in a ceremony on Sunday in Uppsala Cathedral.

"It is very positive that our church is setting an example here and is choosing me as bishop based on my qualifications, when they also know that they can meet resistance elsewhere," Brunne told The Associated Press.

Brunne, who was elected as bishop of Stockholm in a May said she hadn't encountered much resistance within the church because of her sexual orientation.

In an interview with the Metro, Brunne was asked if this is an important symbolic issue, "Yes, it is important to many people who also live with a same-sex partner that a bishop can also do that," she said, "But it's not a big issue at home in Stockholm. I have yet to be in a workplace where it has been an 'issue.'"

When asked if her homosexuality has caused issues for her, Brunne insisted, "No, it hasn't. There have been those who've tried to make it difficult for me, but I have always lived openly. Had I chosen to hide parts of my life I probably would have had problems. As a bishop you must be allowed to be a whole person 24 hours a day, otherwise I would never have coped to be who I am and f unction the way I do."

Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, becomes one of the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major Church. Same-sex marriages were legalized earlier this year.