The bishops recognized the “symbolic” nature of the dispute, insofar as “homosexuality” in this conflict largely stands for something else, even as there is considerable disagreement about what that something is. Several of the bishops argued, in different ways, that the symbolic nature of this conflict is one of the primary reasons it seems so intractable. Bishop Timothy makes a comparison with the conflict in Northern Ireland, where tough legislation had swept away political patronage, and resulted in substantial change.
