Minneapolis ? Plans by Episcopalian leaders to vote on confirming the church’s first openly gay elected bishop were thrown into turmoil Monday when allegations emerged that he inappropriately touched a man and was affiliated with a youth Web site that had a link to pornography.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, head of the Episcopal Church, released a statement announcing the delay as debate was about to start on whether to confirm the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as New Hampshire’s bishop.

Griswold said Robinson, with current New Hampshire Bishop Douglas Theuner and representatives of his diocese, decided together “that a thorough investigation be undertaken before we proceed.”

The allegations of inappropriate touching were e-mailed Sunday to Bishop Thomas Ely of Vermont and asked Ely not to consent to Robinson’s election, Episcopal News Service reported. In the e-mail, a man who identified himself as David Lewis from Manchester, Vt., said Robinson “does not maintain appropriate boundaries with men.”

Lewis wrote in the e-mail that he met Robinson at a church event “a couple of years ago” and “he put his hands on me inappropriately every time I engaged him in conversation.”

Seth Bongartz, a lawyer in Manchester, said he knew Lewis “fairly well” and said he is married with two children and apparently training to become an Episcopal priest.

Vermont state Rep. Judy Livingston said that she also knew Lewis and his wife, and described him as “very intelligent,” adding: “He is not the person who would made make wild accusations.”

Theuner said in a statement that the church’s investigation also would include scrutiny of separate concerns raised about Robinson’s “relationship to a Web site of outright.org,” a secular outreach program for gay and bisexual youth that Robinson helped found.

Bishops learned of the porn link claim from David Virtue, a conservative Anglican activist and writer who has been among the harshest critics of Robinson and of Episcopal gay activists. Virtue said a bishop whom he would not identify alerted him to the link.

Outright issued a statement Monday saying the organization was not aware of the link and objected to it.

Mo Baxley, a member of Concord, N.H., Outright’s board of directors, said Robinson hasn’t been involved with the group for several years and had no role in developing its Web page.

The link is on an unaffiliated site that had resources for gay youth, Baxley said. That page provided resources for bisexuals that, a few links away, provided access to porn.

Church spokesman Jim Solheim said he did not know how long the investigation would take or if a vote on Robinson would take place before the church’s national meeting ends on Friday. Bishop Gordon Scruton of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts was named to lead the investigation.

Robyn Cotton, an Episcopalian in Concord, N.H., and a supporter of Robinson, called the allegations “preposterous.”

“This is horrible. It’s character assassination,” Cotton said.