Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop whose 2003 election touched off a firestorm of controversy across the Anglican Communion, has long insisted that he may be the church’s first openly gay bishop, but he won’t be the last. “That toothpaste isn’t going back into the tube,” he likes to say.

Now comes word from the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York that a search committee for a new bishop wants to at least consider a gay bishop, even if they might not actually elect one. According to Episcopal Life Online, diocesan leaders had to remind the search committee of a 2006 churchwide resolution that promised to “exercise restraint” when considering would-be bishops “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.” In other words, no gay or lesbian bishops.

The Rev. Eric Williams, chair of the diocese’s standing committee (elected leadership), said he had to remind the search committee that they should be bound by the 2006 statement — even though the statement wasn’t directed at search committees per se.

From Episcopal Life: “It is not our intention to muzzle the search committee or prevent them from doing their discernment. In the end, they have to make these difficult discernment choices as they do their work over the next year and a half, and this is really an invitation to see their work in the context of the whole Episcopal Church,” says Williams. At the same time, Williams’ committee said the church should overturn the 2006 rule.

The church’s gay caucuses are already fuming. The Rev. Susan Russell, who heads the gay group Integrity, said the search committee is simply “asking our bishops and deputies to release this church from the straitjacket (the 2006 rules) imposed on the vocational discernment process of a diocese seeking the best candidates for their bishop — to end the era of de facto apartheid that restricts a percentage of the baptized from full inclusion in all orders of ministry.”

The election is scheduled for 2010. It’s worth noting that several openly gay candidates have been nominated for bishop since Robinson’s consecration, and none of them have made it past the nominatoin stage.