The Episcopal Church yesterday voted to confirm the first openly gay bishop in the church and the first worldwide in the Anglican Communion. The Los Angeles Times reports the Rev. V. Gene Robinson may be the first openly gay bishop of any major church ever.

The vote was originally scheduled for Monday but was put off after allegations of misconduct against Robinson emerged at the eleventh-hour. But the church’s committee dismissed the allegations.

Opponents of Robinson’s confirmation have already announced they plan to appeal the vote on the international level. Conservative Episcopalians in the U.S. also called for a national meeting in October to possibly discuss splitting from the church to form a more orthodox wing of the Anglican church in the United States.

Robinson told reporters after the 62-43 vote, “I am proud to be in a church which works to be a safe place for all of God’s children.”