Coercion

In Christ, through salvation, we have been set free - we are no longer under the power of sin; certainly we have the power to sin in our humanity, but we also have the power not to - in Christ.
Romans 6 states:
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

We have the capacity to sin, but we also have the capacity to triumph over its power.  We can enjoy the freedom that Christ gave us and follow His example in proclaiming and living out that freedom to those who are bound by sin.  We show that we love Him and love others not by accommodating or minimizing their sin, but by embracing the truth that can set us all free.  God can bring us to repentance through His Holy Spirit, so that we may live life on a higher plane, with a higher purpose.

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The entering in to a relationship with Jesus in salvation means that He will change us into His image . True, He invites us to come as we are, but He does not want us to stay in that position - He will change us from the inside according to His love.  After Jesus drove away the accusers of the woman
caught in adultery, he asked her, according to John 8:
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

The headline of the USA Today story says, "Tolerance takes a hit."  I would say that a more accurate declaration would be, "Coercion takes a hit."

The article starts out by saying:

For the first time in four years, Americans are less accepting of LGBT people, a survey finds — a setback activists say is stunning but not unexpected after a turbulent 2017.

Fewer than half of non-LGBT adults — 49% — said they were “very” or “somewhat” comfortable around LGBT people in certain scenarios, according to the Accelerating Acceptance report released Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That number was down from 53% in 2016.

This is from a Harris Poll commissioned by the gay-rights advocacy group, GLAAD.

There was a trend that had developed among survey respondents regarding their level of comfort with having their child placed with an LGBT teacher.  The article says:

In 2014, 30% of those surveyed said they were “very” or “somewhat” uncomfortable having their child placed in a class with an LGBT teacher. In 2015, that number dipped to 29%; in 2016, 28%. In 2017, it jumped to 31%.

More people in 2017 were also uncomfortable learning a family member or their doctor was LGBT, the survey shows.

Now, there was a question about having an LGBT person at one's place of worship.  In 2016, 22% said that they were uncomfortable with that; the number rose slightly, to 24% last year.

The story says that Sarah Kate Ellis, the President and CEO of GLAAD, stated that there is “'a permission slip for discrimination and bias' that has permeated society," as the result of the 2016 Presidential election.  GLAAD cited several issues: LGBT content removed from the White House and other Federal government websites, the Justice and Education departments reversing the guidance that transgender students should be able to use restrooms and other facilities corresponding to their gender identity, an attempt to prevent transgender individuals from being in the military, the new HHS division on conscience and religious liberty protection, and the Mississippi religious freedom law that was recently upheld in court.

I think these statistics can tell us a story, and one hypothesis I would offer: people are become weary of certain LGBT Americans pushing the gay agenda, and there is some pushback.  I believe that people of faith who hold to a Biblical view of marriage are tired of being forced to accept behavior that violates their deeply held beliefs.  They don't like to be called names and certainly should not be forced, under the guise of "tolerance" to endorse a so-called "same sex" marriage through their business.   While GLAAD is certainly not "glad" about these stats, I think it could be interpreted that they and like-minded people have overplayed their hand.

But, our level of discomfort with homosexual behavior should never be a deterrent to showing compassion to those who are in same-sex relationships or struggling with same-sex attraction.  We should be welcoming to all - to all sinners - but, just like Jesus modeled for us, people should expect to hear a message of change and freedom through Christ when they attend church.  He loved all, but did not accommodate sin.

This is just one snapshot in what has developed into a lengthy story, and we will no doubt see the attempts of the gay community to earn special treatment.  While there are many who are in same-sex relationships who just want to blend in to society, there are others that want to coerce those who are heterosexual to accept their behavior as normal, at the expense of their own deeply held beliefs.  If they really want tolerance, then they should tolerate the rights of Christians to disagree.