After listening to two hours of testimony from bishops, deputies and visitors Friday morning, the legislative committee on the Consecration of Bishops endorsed the ratification of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, as bishop-coadjutor of New Hampshire. The measure now heads to the House of Deputies for a vote.

Robinson is the first openly gay priest to be elected bishop in the Episcopal Church.

“The committee has made its decision,” committee co-chair, the Rev. Karolyn Keil-Kuhr of the Diocese of Montana, told the ballroom packed with at least 500 attendees; some 200 more were in the lobby, and 100 more were in an overflow room.

Keil-Kuhr asked that the decision be “received with grace” by those in attendance. “We would appreciate no applause, no cheering. I remind you this is not the final action,” she said, announcing that the committee has “voted to adopt resolution C045.”

Bishops with jurisdiction in geographic areas of the church will also vote on the measure.

More on this story will be posted soon.