Men of the cloth: among the many Episcopalians who celebrated Robinson's consecration was the gay dad who created the vestments the bishop wears on the cover of this magazine.

As the Reverend V. Gene Robinson was preparing for his November 2 consecration as the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, he had a Brooklyn, N.Y., gay couple and their twin 3 1/2-year-old children on his mind.

"He called us at 8 o'clock that morning [in our hotel room]," recalls Patrick Boylan, who was in Dover, N.H., with his partner, Peter Hockett, and their children to attend Robinson's consecration. "He said, 'I hope I didn't wake you. I wanted to invite you up for breakfast.' I had just met this man--my partner had never met him--and here we were, within 10 minutes, with our kids having breakfast with him and his partner and his ex-wife and his daughters."

Boylan, 41, had met the bishop-elect in Minneapolis in August at the church's national convention, where Robinson's election was confirmed, and had offered to create custom-made vestments as a gift in honor of his consecration. Robinson's elevation was a profoundly personal affirmation of faith for Boylan and 42-year-old Hockett, because their lower Manhattan Episcopal church had been like family for almost as long as the 15 years the two men have been a couple.

"I felt this profound sense of needing to thank him on two levels," Boylan says of his gift. "On the global level, for just the awesomeness of his taking this mantle on and for the impact it would have on our church.

But also on the personal level, for the impact that this would have on my children."

As a maker of liturgical vestments--the robes and headgear that serve as a priest's dress uniform--Boylan shaped his gratitude and admiration out of imported Italian fabric with a colorful floral accent. "When [Robinson] saw that cloth," Boylan recounts, "he said, 'I have to tell you, the pattern in this fabric is so beautiful--and the fact that [my partner] Mark and I are both gardeners, it just makes sense.' Then I really started thinking about the whole garden metaphor and how Gene's ministry is a spring [time] for the church. It just all fell together."

Robinson wore vestments given to him by his parents for iris consecration but debuted Boylan's work a week later, at his first Sunday service as bishop, in Peterborough, N.H. Boylan and Hockett--a stay-at-home dad who is on hiatus from his career as a pastry chef--were in the congregation that morning as well, this time without their children.

But the kids were never far from their fathers' thoughts during Bishop Robinson's first sermon. "On a community level you've got gay role models [for children] like teachers and policemen, but on a bigger scale you have to have these examples for them," Boylan says "Now we'll be able to turn to these kids--once they come to a point of understanding--and say, 'Here's Gene. He's our gay bishop.'" He pauses. "His being gay shouldn't be the overriding factor. That he will always be known as 'the gay bishop' is unfortunate, because he's got an enormous amount to offer not only the diocese but also the church at large. Let's have him be known as 'the wonderful bishop.'"

For a link to Boylan's company, Grace Liturgical Vestments, go to www.advocate.com/html/issuelinks/issuelinks.asp.