There was notable contention over the issue of ordination of non-celibate gay people in the 1980s within the United Church of Canada, and in the 1990s and early 21st century within the Presbyterian Church USA. The Episcopal Church (United States), the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, was divided over the issue of ordination of non-celibate gay people. This conflict severely damaged relationships between Anglicans in North America and in the third world, especially Africa and southeast Asia, and has caused a schism in the American Anglican church.