I like all the contributions which are attempting to reframe the discussion, from Pastor Pete’s three questions: "Is it beneficial? Does it build up? Does it dominate me?", to paulchen’s comparisons with other culturally relative biblical issues, and justin baeder’s provocative defence of infant cannibalism.

All the way through this particular discussion (and previous discussions on the same subject) I have felt that a major weakness has been the absence of the voice(s) of gay Christians and their community - and an unanswered challenge as to whether the views which we air have at all been shaped by interaction with the people we are talking about, namely: Christians with a gay orientation. How can we see what the Spirit is doing unless we relate personally to the lives of those amongst whom we seek to judge the fruit of the Spirit’s work?

Even amongst gay Christians, there are bound to be conflicting viewpoints. But I welcome the appearance of Sherri’s contribution, and ask whether it is possible to hear from more gay Christians about their actual experience of being gay. On a more profound level, the issue is whether the orientation itself is morally deviant, or morally neutral (about which the church engages in specious moral logic), and whether the Spirit endorses, by their fruit, gay monogamous sexual relationships as well as the gay orientation. Hearing from gay Christians would add substance to an otherwise somewhat hypothetical ethical debate.