Bishop Karen Oliveto served as senior pastor of the 12,000-member Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco for eight years. She was the first woman to be senior pastor at Glide, the fifth largest United Methodist congregation in the US. Bishop Oliveto has the distinction of being the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church. She and her wife, Robin Ridenour, a nurse anesthetist and United Methodist deaconess, were married in 2014. Bishop Oliveto now serves as the leader of 400 churches in the Mountain Sky Area of The United Methodist Church.
Bishop Oliveto is serving the Mountain Sky area after serving as senior pastor of the 12,000-member Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco for eight years. She is the first woman to be senior pastor at Glide, the fifth largest United Methodist congregation in the US. Bishop Oliveto has the distinction of being the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church. She and her wife, Robin Ridenour, a nurse anesthetist and United Methodist deaconess, were married in 2014.