As far as I know; it had a lot to with the phase of history they were going through at the moment, but yes; you're right. Some people say that the bond was forced, but that's just bull****. Greeks were just a lot less strict when it came to male love. On the toher hand; I'm not so sure whether spartans valued the affection between two persons because they felt that it would coerce them to acts of bravery in defence of their partner or because tight-knit relations just made better teams. It's weird really, you'd imagine that love would be seen as 'weak' or it might be considered a hindrance when it came to a field of battle, afterall the spartans were a very war-oriented people.
And yes; it was pederasty, not penetration, you vile sniggerers.
Edit: I'm getting eccentric-er by the day, it seems.