I am not surprised at the negative reaction you’ve seen. I write about LGBTQ and Christian issues all the time, and when I promote articles on Facebook in groups with hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ readers, the responses I get are overwhelmingly hateful.

I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say the vast majority of LGBTQ people hate Christian churches with a fierce passion.

And when I say fierce, it’s only because I don’t know of a stronger word that isn’t a profanity.

These reactions are deeply emotional and unlikely to change based on rational arguments about the church doing more good work than bad.

People who feel they are the subject of intense persecution and oppression are going to need more than lists of theoretical benefits in order for their hate to change into something else.

What we probably need are frequent and genuine apologies followed by sincere and actual demonstrations of complete affirmation.

Given that most churches in the United States won’t fully affirm LGBTQ people, my suspicion is that most of us LGBTQ people will continue to hate Christian churches.