Yes, but for the most part, the 'press' is full of shinola. And many of them don't even know how to properly use the English language.
Of course, equal rights advocates tend to advocate for equal rights. Including the equal rights of homosexuals. But that doesn't mean they're advocating for homosexuality, itself. And until the "right" finally gets this into their heads, they will continue to misunderstand and misrepresent both homosexuals and equal rights advocates. They consistently make this same mistake with the abortion and separation of church and state, issues, too.
I used to watch Bill O'Reilly bring Al Sharpton on his show and introduce him as a "spokesmen for the liberal democrats". But no one appointed Al Sharpton spokesmen for anything or anyone, except Bill O'Reilly. Al Sharpton would go on to spew his personal views on all sorts of issues, and Bill O'Reilly would continue to make fun of "those liberal democrats" as if all liberal democrats were exact reproductions of Al Sharpton, and the audiences ate it all up like a sick dog eating it's own puke.
Welcome to the media circus, where anything that generates phony outrage and biased indignation also generates audiences, and that sells ad time. It's all about the money, honey.
Well, … you THINK you are being respectful and decent. The thing is, when you want to maintain laws that force gays into being second-class citizens, you are actually doing them harm. You are actually causing them to suffer. And although you think you aren't doing this, you are still doing it. And that's why even though you don't think you're being a bigot, you're still acting like a bigot. And you're still advocating a bigoted course of action.
No one is denying you your right to want to harm homosexuals by forcing them to be treated like lessor human beings. But you can't expect the people you want to harm, and those who support their right to be treated as equals, not to speak out against this abuse. And not to be angry that you want to abuse them. Just because you've fooled yourself into believing that you mean them no harm doesn't mean you've fooled them into believing it.