SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Delegates from the Episcopal Diocese of California voted Saturday for their next bishop from a field of seven candidates that includes three openly gay clerics.

The vote comes as the global Anglican Communion is still reeling from the 2003 election of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop – V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

But after the first two rounds of voting, two candidates emerged as early front-runners and neither was gay. In fact, none of the three gay candidates received more than a handful of votes, making it unlikely any of them could win the election. The sole lesbian candidate withdrew shortly before noon.

To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes among both clergy and lay delegates, and rounds of voting are conducted until a winner emerges.

Episcopalians differ over whether the Bible permits ordaining gays, but agree that choosing a second leader in a same-sex relationship would severely damage their relations with other Anglicans. In 2004, a panel of Anglican leaders seeking ways the Communion can stay together despite deep differences over homosexuality asked the US church for a temporary moratorium on electing gay bishops.

The 77 million-member Anglican Communion is made up of religious bodies that trace their roots back to the Church of England; it’s represented in the United States by the Episcopal Church. The Communion is led by the archbishop of Canterbury.

In the Diocese of California, delegates are choosing a successor to Bishop William Swing, who is retiring.

The remaining candidates are: the Rt Rev Mark Handley Andrus of Birmingham, Alabama; Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton of Washington National Cathedral; the Rev Canon Michael Barlowe of San Francisco; the Very Rev Robert Taylor of Seattle; the Rev Jane Gould of Lynn, Massachusetts; and the Rev Donald Schell of San Francisco.

Barlowe and Taylor are openly gay.

After the second round of voting, Andrus appeared to be the strongest candidate with 62.2 per cent of the clergy vote and 35.3 per cent of the lay vote.

Sutton received 42.2 per cent of the lay vote.

Nearly 600 delegates from across California gathered at the ornate Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to cast their votes. Voting and electronic counting of ballots were punctuated by prayer and singing hymns.

The winner must be approved by the top Episcopal legislative body, called the General Convention, which is set to convene June 13-21 in Columbus, Ohio.