"Sexuality is not a sin, but sexuality is a problem for everybody," Gomes said. "Anything as powerful as a sexual identity has the potential to come between us and God."

Gomes publicly revealed that he was gay in 1991, after the conservative student journal The Peninsula published an issue denouncing homosexuality.

Though Gomes said he has spoken often to people who think the Christian community should accept homosexuals, he said he regrets not speaking to more people who think homosexuality and Christianity are not compatible.

"You are here today knowing more or less what I will say, but this is the first time I've sat with evangelical Christians to talk about this topic at Harvard," Gomes said. "The fact that this Veritas Forum can risk having me here is a signal step in the right direction. All I know is this ought to be the start of something too long delayed."

Two of the more strictly academic events included a debate between students on the existence of God and the HLS symposium on the legal basis of the pro-life argument.

The debate was moderated by Professor Jay M. Harris, who teaches Moral Reasoning 54: "'If There is No God, All is Permitted:' Theism and Moral Reasoning," and drew about 150 people.

At HLS on Saturday, a physician from Rhode Island used flow charts to prove what he thinks is the destructiveness of euthanasia in a panel called "New Realities and the Future of the Pro-Life Movement."