And according to Gila Reinstein in the Yale Office of Public Affairs, "Yale has a nondiscrimination policy and would not prohibit individuals from using the chapel for same-sex commitment purposes."
"Yale has not issued a policy specific to same sex services but the overarching policy would apply," she said.
But according to Gomes, change at Harvard requires more deliberation.
"Things happen slowly here but they also happen with a degree of self-consciousness which is both a blessing and a curse," he said.
Citing the national scope of issues of same-sex marriage, Gomes said that he elected to seek the guidance of the Board of Ministry and the Faculty Committee on Religion in order to determine what provision the Church should make for ceremonies not covered under the legal definition of matrimony.
"In a decision like this, in theory, I could have done this unilaterally but the bodies provide a process for ideas to be defined and refined," Gomes said.
Noting that "this is the University's church," Gomes said he also consulted on the decision with Rudenstine as he "ought to on policy matters with [his] superior."
Some have termed Gomes' approach to the decision process cautious and speculated that past experiences at the University led the minister to share the responsibility with others.
Slayton said he believes that Gomes might have approached the commitment ceremonies issue cautiously because of controversy over a Civil War monument almost two years ago.
Gomes advocated recognition of war dead on both sides but when Rudenstine withdrew support for this position, Gomes was left "holding the bag," Slayton said.
Others have speculated that Gomes was rendered cautious by some unfavorable campus reaction when he disclosed his own homosexuality at a 1992 rally protesting an issue of the conservative publication Peninsula which attacked homosexuality on biblical grounds.
After Gomes' announcement, a group called Concerned Christians at Harvard was formed and there was at least one open calls for his resignation.
But Gomes said his progress towards a policy was not influenced by concern about criticism.
"If I were afraid of criticism, this would be the wrong job," he said. "There are easier ways to make a living."
"The decision will be confusing to many," Gomes said, noting the perplexity he often provokes because he is simultaneously "an establishment figure--and not embarrassed by that" as well as "a self-admitted homosexual but [one] who does not define that in the same way as many others do."
He also said Harvard required a more systematic approach to the ceremonies than Brown because the relationship of chapel and university is different than that between Memorial Church and Harvard.
Although Gomes said he personally performs very few weddings, he said his determination of whether he would officiate at a union ceremony would be made on a case-by-case basis as weddings are decided.
According to Gomes, the proceedings would be more challenging for a minister, however, because with union ceremonies clergy lack the experience they have with wedding liturgy and ceremony.