Controversial Bishop Gene Robinson will address a packed lecture theatre in a Kent city tonight.

The openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire is banned from the main sessions of the three-week Lambeth Conference being held in Canterbury, but intends to take part in as many fringe sessions as possible, until the conference closes on August 3rd.

A number of protestors are expected to stand outside the Kent Business School Lecture Theatre at Kent University before and after Bishop Robinson's address at 5pm.

After living openly with another man for 20 years, the pair formalised their partnership last month with a civil ceremony and service of thanksgiving, further inflaming tensions within the church.

Tonight's talk is expected to explore the intersections and connections between race, gender, sexuality and other oppressions. He is also expected to reflect on the contemporary relationship between church and state, and the challenge of fighting inequality within faith communities.

Titled 'The Lambeth Conference: A View From the Fringe', it has been organised by the Arts & Humanities Research Council's Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality as part of their Religion, Secularism and Sexuality Series.