There’s an important point I begin with when I teach on homosexuality and transgenderism. I remind Christians that we are not only called to love people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), but we—more than anyone else in our culture—can give a justification for loving them. Why? It’s the Christian worldview that teaches that every human being is made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Christians, therefore, are required to believe that every person on the planet, including people who identify as LGBT, are made in God’s image, intrinsically valuable, and deserving of dignity and respect.
There are two consequences to this view. First, there is no place for dehumanizing talk or degrading insults about people who identify as LGBT. To do so is to mock image-bearers of God—a behavior that is unbecoming of a faithful Christian.
Second, we should not be against people who identify as LGBT, but rather the ideas of those who hold them. Therefore, though we might vigorously oppose false ideas, we should be kind to the people who hold them.
Secular culture, devoid of a biblical worldview, doesn’t hold to a principle that requires we love people we vigorously disagree with. Certainly, some choose to love people whose ideas they abhor. There’s no mandatory principle that justifies that behavior, though. Plus, the shifting tide of culture is all it would take to change which groups people love. Christians, though, are not only justified in their love towards all people, but that justification will never change because it’s based on God’s eternal truth.