I know this is kind of OT, but as a sex scene, that was a pretty decent one. I agree that it didn't necessarily fit perfectly in the book, but then, did the Capn Crunch chapter really fit either? I've noticed that sometimes Stephenson will just go off on tangents for a chapter and then come back.
I would hazard that Cryptonomicon in particular is more about the tangents than the plot.
Well, he had to fill 1000 pages with SOMETHING, didn't he?

Agreed! As a fan of that book, I find it hard to explain to people just WHY I liked it. For me the tangents were fun... but my idea of fun usually causes boredom-related anuerisms in other people.
But anyway, the original thread has me trying to think of books I've read with gay sex, and I can't think of any. Maybe my idea of fun makes me gravitate towards sex-free/historical tangent-heavy stories? I saw
Rent, though, at the recommendation of several folks, and they accused me of homophobia when I didn't like that.
However, what turned me off was not the gay-themed stuff (even if one of the characters had actually been a lass, I still would have found the running-through-the park-holding-hands-and-singing to be silly and treacly), but the fact that these people had the nerve to claim some God-given right to live rent-free in New York City. (You sign a lease, you need to pay. Otherwise, move to Kansas, where they are giving land away.)
I guess for me, it's not the sex scene that is interesting... it's the fact the one of the partners in the scene is named "Shaftoe". Tee hee.