I don't know how to say this in a way that will likely resonate with many of you, but having lived half my life in the northeast and half in middle American states (Michigan and Texas), I'd love to try.
Dermody believes in his church-related self so strongly, that if the Bible said red-headed step children were evil, he would have tweeted Verdugo, Turner, and Vasquez aren't going to heaven (I'm being hyperbolic; I don't know if any of them were stepchildren). Certain people have blind faith in their religion. I was raised strongly Catholic, but also learned to challenge the institution of Catholicism at none other than Villanova (one of the biggest Catholic schools in the US, if you didn't already know).
At one time (in my early 20s) I had the same views as Dermody, but meeting and befriending some gay people caused me to challenge my religious education. As a Catholic, I also was taught to believe that the Bible is written by men, influenced by the Holy Spirit, but it is not the actual words of God. But other Christian faiths do believe it is the word of God.
So do the Dermody math ... "I'm a strong believer in the Bible, the Bible is the word of God, therefore tweeting the words of the Bible is spreading God's word and is a work of God. Maybe my words will get these gay people to stop sinning and go straight."
It may seem ludicrous to many of us, and it surely is ignorant to just about all of us, but he (and tens of millions of Christians in the red states) believe this. If we are more informed, then it is our responsibility to bring them to enlightenment, not condemn and ostasize them.
Okay, probably too much personal religious viewpoint so I will stop preaching now. But I'll tell you something I told coworkers who were strong Christians 20 years ago when gay conversion was a newsy topic. I said I strongly believed, based on personal observation, that being gay was not a choice, so if gays were made that way, God surely has a reason for putting them on earth, and it's our job as believers in God to try to figure out God's plan and accept them rather than throwing stones.