This is a list of Christian denominational positions on homosexuality. The issue of homosexuality and Christianity is a subject of ongoing theological debate within and between Christian denominations and this list seeks to summarize the various official positions. Within denominations, many members may hold somewhat differing views on and even differing definitions of homosexuality. Adventism The Seventh-day Adventist Church is opposed to same-sex sexual practices and relationships on the grounds that "sexual intimacy belongs only within the marital relationship of one man and one woman." They believe the Bible consistently affirms the pattern of heterosexual monogamy, and all sexual relations outside the scope of spousal intimacy are contrary to God's original plan. Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East regards marriage as only being between one man and one woman, stating "We believe that faithful in Christian Marriage between a male and a female, free of impediments, is the only legitimate state for sexual expression between individuals." Anglicanism (including Episcopal) The Anglican Communion has been divided over the issue of homosexuality in several ways. The Church of England, the mother church of the Communion, currently maintains (according to the statement Issues in Human Sexuality) that same-sex partnerships are acceptable for laypersons, and gay clergy may enter in a civil partnership as long as they are expected to give assurances of celibacy. The Lambeth Conference of 1998 called homosexuality "incompatible with Scripture" but this remains a purely advisory guideline as there are no communion-wide legislative bodies in the Anglican Church. On the other hand, in 2003 the Episcopal Church, which is the American body (province) of the Anglican Communion, approved Gene Robinson to the bishopric of the diocese of New Hampshire. Bishop Gene Robinson is the first openly gay (non-celibate) clergy to be ordained to the episcopate. Mary Glasspool became first open lesbian suffragan bishop to be consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion in the Diocese of Los Angeles of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In 2016, Nicholas Chamberlain, the Bishop of Grantham, became the first bishop in the Church of England to come out as gay and in a same-sex relationship. In the Seventeenth Session of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia in 2017, the Anglican Church of Australia passed a motion recognising "that the doctrine of our church, in line with traditional Christian teaching, is that marriage