From a netfriend:

Re what the Assembly decided- The Assembly did not endorse either "celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage" or "right relationship". What it did was recognise that both views are held in good conscience by members of the church- this is a statement of fact. But neither position was endorsed by the Assembly. This is clear in the Question and Answer shee the General Secretaries have produced.

Celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage, has never been endorsed as the standard of the Assembly, despite attempts at the 1985, 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2000 Assemblies to get this postion adopted by the Assembly. On each occasion the Assembly has refused to adopt this as its position. And in 1997, while teh Assembly received Uniting Sexuality and Faith and recommended that it be studied by the church, but did not formally adopt Right Relationships as the Assembly's standard.

So the Assembly never has had and still does not have an endorsed position on the matter of Christian sexual ethics. I thought the resolution passed at Assembly made this clear. It simply recognised a diversity of views and asked church members to live together in peace despite the differing views.

And the Assembly recognised that CISIFIM and Right Relationships are not in fact mutually exclusive positions- this was made clear by the addition of some words to the resolutions. Both of these positions for example affirm faithfulness in marriage, and condemn sexual practices which are abusive and exploitative- eg peadophilia. There is actually a lot of things to do with sexual ethics that everyone agrees on and just a few issues taht we disagree on- namely whether homosexual sexual activity is sinful and whether persons in committed same gender relationships should be ordained.

Because the Assembly has never endorsed a particular view on sexual ethics, it has been possible for presbyteries to take different positions on the matter of ordination and placement of people in same gender relationships. This has been happening for years- it is not a new right being given to presbyteries.