"I felt the climate had been so poisoned...that the strongest possible measures were called for," Gomes said in an interview this week. "I felt the time had come."

Gomes said he hasn't regretted his decision to come out.

"My colleagues have been astonishingly supportive," he said. "People have taken trouble to write me notes--supportive and powerful notes." Gomes said that of the 15 to 20 written responses he has received, all but one or two are positive.

At the rally, Johnson applauded the show of support that she and Gomes received from students.

"As one of numerous lesbian faculty members at Harvard, I needed to feel your strength," Johnson said at the rally. "We do exist, we do love, and we are strong."

But not all students reacted favorably to Gomes's statement. In a letter to The Crimson last week, former Republican Club President Sumner E. Anderson '92 called for Gomes's resignation from Memorial Church.

"I have great respect for Gomes's intellectual capabilities and his personal integrity," Anderson wrote, "but unless he openly admits homosexual behavior to be sinful, I feel compelled to call for his immediate resignation."

Anderson's letter to the editor was one of many that flooded campus publications since Peninsula was published, a sign that the issues that have emerged in the last several weeks remain in the forefront of campus debate.

Indeed, according to key players in the controversy, discussion is bound to continue.

Cavazos said that BGLSA, for its part, will try to shift the discussion onto its own terms, highlighting issues such as gays visibility and the act of coming out.

Cavazos added that BGLSA will launch a new publication sometime in January or February to provide an additional outlet for the organization.

Gomes also said he believes the issue will linger. "I suspect, despite our short attention span, it will be discussed for quite some time," he said.

Landry of Peninsula said he believes that one of the long-term effects will be greater scrutiny of BGLSA members' claims about homosexuality. "The university is going to be a little more skeptical of the things they say," he said.

Landry said that he hopes the issues raised will result not only in continued discussion, but in a changed way of thinking for many students.

"Several people have come up and said they've been moved and they'll never think the same way about homosexuality again," Landry said.