The Mutual Burdens of Discernment

I'm currently reading Eugene Rogers's book Sexuality and the Christian Body. In reading I came across this quote from NT scholar Luke Timothy Johnson regarding the burdens facing liberals and conservatives in thinking about same-sex marriages, particularly as they relate to the church:

The harder question, of course, is whether the church can recognize the possibility of homosexual committed and covenantal love, in the way that it recognizes such sexual/personal love in the sacrament of marriage. This is a harder question because it pertains not simply to moral attitudes or pastoral care, but to the social symbolization of the community. The issue here is analogous to the one facing earliest Christianity after Gentiles started being converted...

Such witness is what the church now needs from homosexual Christians. Are homosexuality and holiness of life compatible? Is homosexual covenantal love according to "the mind of Christ," an authentic realization of that Christian identity authored by the Holy Spirit, and therefore "authored" as well by the Scripture despite the "authorities" speaking against it? The church can discern this only on the basis of faithful witness. The burden of proof required to overturn scriptural precedents is heavy, but it is a burden that has been borne before. The church cannot, should not, define itself in response to political pressure or popularity polls. But it is called to discern the work of God in human lives and adapt its self-understanding in response to the work of God. Inclusivity must follow from evidence of holiness...

To me, this assessment seems to find a good balance, placing burdens of discernment upon both the Christian gay community and upon Christian conservatives. But I'm wondering what you think about it. Specifically, the burden upon the gay community is to demonstrate holiness in the form of committed covenantal love. The burden upon the conservative community is to make room, in peace and fellowship, as gay marriages attempt to become "grafted into," by the work of the Holy Spirit, the sacrament of marriage. How else are we to discern what God is up to in the world? Such a model of discernment seems to follow the thrust of Scripture, particularly the model of discernment found in Acts 15.