I've known of Lee for several years, having been part of GCN/QCF for well over a decade. I have my own issues with his approach to the whole LGBTQ/Christian divide. For example, open discussions of same-sex marriage were greatly restricted on the GCN board for many, many years. I disagreed with the over-emphasis on placating evangelical parents. Heck, I'm just not comfortable with evangelical Christianity most of the time and that's his background -- so I know that this negatively colors my perspective of him. And he's made some poorly thought out decisions in the past -- such as bringing Alan Chambers to a GCN conference without any apparent consideration for what the unannounced presence of a major ex-gay leader would do for many of those attending.
I was more curious about Sprinkle's contribution to the conversation. I'm not terribly familiar with him, but I've heard about him on Twitter. He's an associate professor for biblical studies for some Bible College in California. He's written a lot, including a few books, and he's done a ton of podcasts. He seems to be the go-to person these days for issues related to LGBTQ people and Christianity. And he's very Side-B, which means that he firmly believes that same-sex marriage is wrong and that gay people should remain single and celibate. Meanwhile, he's got his own wife and kids.
Ultimately, I'm not sure about the overall purpose of the conversation. I think it's to show people that affirming people and non-affirming people can hash out the topic of LGBTQ-inclusion within the Church without being mean to each other. Which is true to a point (in my opinion), but only if you're highly superficial about things. Otherwise, you're still going to hit a point where the Sprinkles of the world are going to push away at the married and partnered LGBTQ Christians of the world. But they'll do it with a sympathetic smile.
Preston Sprinkle did a good job of summarizing the difference between him and Justin Lee:
Sprinkle spent a lot of time discussing sex differences in marriage and why that proves that same-sex marriage is forbidden. He discussed how marriage has always been the same in the Bible:
Later on, there was a podcast between Sprinkle and the Spark Church leader, where he clarified his opinion on what should be done with married gay Christians. Basically, he believes that married gay Christians should break up or maintain a reduced role within the church. He also asserted that he's fine with churches that expel LGBTQ people for being married:
During the conversation, there was an interesting question posed to Justin Lee about why he doesn't affirm polyamory. He seemed to be trying to get Justin to be inconsistent with his support for same-sex marriage and his opposition to poly relationships, which I think is fair. Lee floundered a bit when it came to this answer. Basically, he mainly seemed uncomfortable publicly expressing opposition to polyamory but didn't know how to do it without hurting feelings:
Sprinkle pounced on this, noting that if gender differences don't matter in marriage then why should it matter if there are two people or three? He noted that there is more biblical support for polyamory. Certainly much more support than for same-sex marriage. Then he suddenly cried out, "I oppose polyamory!" Didn't really offer a reason for his opposition though.
Let's be blunt. There was much more support for Justin Lee's perspective during the conversation than for Preston Sprinkle. And that power difference must have been palpable in that auditorium. Lee was on-fire, full of funny quips and nuanced responses. Sprinkle had some jokes but really seemed uncomfortable when telling skeptical queer people to our faces about his opposition to our lives and why. He was much more confident in the podcast. Then again, he wasn't talking to us.
There seemed to be more of an effort from the audience to toss some challenging questions towards Justin Lee towards the end of the conversation and Q&A. Aside from the poly question, there was this one woman who talked to Lee about Adam & Eve and Noah's Ark. Ultimately, she wants to support same-sex relationships, but she's worried about procreation and the extinction of humanity. "It breaks my heart!" Justin Lee wisely pointed out that humanity is nowhere close to becoming extinct.
I would probably add that most of humanity isn't LGBTQ. So there are still plenty of people reproducing. Plus, celibacy doesn't help out either if one is worried about humanity's extinction.
Once again, I struggle with the point of the conversation. Preston Sprinkle's final words on the post-conversation podcast were, "I would just ask that everyone come to the dialogue as charitably as possible." Which is nice, but I still remember him stating that he's fine with expelling married gay Christians from churches. I'm not sure how charitable that is.
But the conversation gave me an opportunity to learn more about Preston Sprinkle first-hand. Which is something.
Once again, you can watch the conversation for yourself at these two links (here and here).