by Smyth Harper BBC News Online

Robinson had his admirers cheering

The speech to gay Christians in Manchester - by the first openly gay man to be elected an Anglican bishop - had more than a ring of Martin Luther King to it.

In a video link from the United States, he said that gay Christians could be "led out of slavery, although it means walking in a wilderness for many years."

"But this God offers us a Promised Land, just as he did for the Israelites," he said.

The audience, about 250 members of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, loved it.

As soon as his face appeared, beamed by satellite from New Hampshire after the usual technical hitches, the audience erupted.

They cheered for several minutes, before listening to what this talisman of equality had to say.

Robinson has an uncanny resemblance to Jerry Springer

They were a friendly crowd of mostly white, mostly middle class Christians - like many seen attending worship up and down the country every week.

A clue to their sexuality came from the rainbow ribbons some of them wore.

And they hung on his every word, and he was only interrupted when they applauded what he had to say.

"We have let the word traditionalist be hijacked by those who would take us to a place which has never been Anglican tradition," he said.

"We are traditionalists."

Homely fervour

Despite the fervour of his rhetoric, Robinson comes across as a homely, friendly man.

He never raised his voice, but his words had a powerful resonance.

Looking down from the video screen, he was reminiscent of Jerry Springer at the end of his show when he gives a measured, quiet final thought.

Robinson sounds exactly like controversial TV host - if a little more sincere.

In fact the gay row in the Anglican Church is not unlike an episode of the show, with two warring sides battling it out in the most unedifying of spectacles.

From the echoes of Martin Luther King to the uncanny similarity to Jerry Springer, Canon - soon to be Bishop - Gene Robinson is certainly unique.