In late April 2006, Carey said in a televised interview that the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, US in 2003 verged on heresy because Bishop Robinson is gay and lives in a long-term relationship. His association with Episcopalians Concerned agitated some, and his decision to confirm anti-gay dissidents who refused the ministry of the Bishop of Virginia puzzled the same people. Carey, who remembered the difficulties of the that he had presided over in 1998, sought to avoid a major schism in the communion by refraining from further consecrations of gay people.