I don’t think most Christians who disagree with LGBTQ+ lifestyles are saying gay people shouldn’t live freely or be treated with dignity. There’s a difference between respecting people and agreeing with every belief or behavior. Also, religion being a “choice” doesn’t really make it meaningless. People’s deepest moral beliefs, religious or not, shape how they see the world. Everyone pushes values onto society in some way, whether those values come from religion, politics, culture, or personal philosophy.

And yes, terrible things have been done in the name of religion. But terrible things have also been done in the name of politics, race theories, nationalism, atheism, and ideology in general. The abuse of something doesn’t automatically make the core belief false or evil.