Every religion and Holy Book contains instruction to utter barbarism and calls it a step on the path to peace and the love of god.
It has always been an effective way to recruit monstrous men and women to serve their Lord by practicing their talents for cruelty, mayhem and evil.
Templars, Danites, Crusaders, the inquisition, the pogroms all have biblical precedent.

Stoning is quite popular in the babble....lists lots & lots of stuff to stone people for, too...oh, and a vengeful gawd who takes revenge frequently, in no way related to the "crimes"...drowning the entire earth, sending everybody in Sodom & Gomorrah up in flames, knocking down the walls of Jerico so the inhabitants could be slaughtered, etc etc Tell me again how Xians are so much better...?.

That reminds me of one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. I asked a guy I know in Kentucky why his hatred of gay people is so strong. He told me being gay is a sin against god and they don't want them people around there breeding.

I don’t think you should single out Islamic countries....all religions condemn it. They may just be the most extreme in their penalties, but there are Christian countries which use imprisonment, ostracism, and aversion therapy as punishment for being gay. All religions profess to be promoting peace and love, whilst all the time demonstrating the exact opposite.

The Bible (and Torah) also states that homosexuals should be put to death: "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them" (Leviticus 20:13). Homosexuality remained illegal in many non-Muslim nations until very recently - it fact, it was only legalised nationally in the USA 16 years ago. On the other hand, it has been legal in Muslim-majority Turkey since 1858 and remained so under Atatürk's reforms which created the modern state in the 1920s, and was largely tolerated in the Islamic world in former times (the Koran doesn't actually recommend any sort of punishment for homosexuality, though later commentary on it does).

Therefore, I'm not convinced Islam can be blamed for the current situation in those nations where homosexuality is illegal, but that instead it's used as an excuse by their repressive governments.

The problem with this post is that you lump an entire religion together as one. Because Islam has no central governing body, it is not possible to state clear policies regarding issues of interest to LGBTQ people. Some Islamic people are entirely accepting of gay people, others (particularly Whahhabism) absolutely do not. It is far more complex than to say, 'Muslims hate gays' and within the Islamic world there are many different factions, some of which (rather like the Church of England) are mostly secular and others who are extreme in their views. Now many of the extreme views are partially down to cultural traditions and have very little to do with the teachings of Mohammed. Some of these extreme views are changing and becoming openly more extreme (by way of comparison think of the Westborough Baptist church). These views are expressed by a large vocal minority...but they are a minority. Saying that, I absolutely believe in protecting all people, wherever they live.