The previous paragraph refers to “consensual sexual conduct,” which would implicitly exclude such sexual inclinations or acts, but the problem is that the consent of children or of animals is not a transcendental imperative recognized by law or custom around the world: adults routinely make children do things to which they do not consent, from eating their greens to going to school, and cows do not consent to being turned into hamburgers. This is not a robust foundation on which to build a comprehensive sexual ethic.
