A Gay Woman Becomes New York’s Lutheran Bishop

The Rev. Dr. Katrina Foster was talking about her new job, overseeing 160 Lutheran congregations in and around New York City. She is the first woman and the first openly gay person to serve as the bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran equivalent of a diocese in some denominations.

She played down the latter of the two firsts. “Me being a lesbian is just not that interesting,” she said. “Having flashing signs going ‘look at the lesbian’ is just not interesting.”