Gays, lesbians and the LGBTQ civil rights movement have made great progress in a short time. Don’t let a hateful, bullying billboard set back the cause.

Only 11 years ago, voters throughout Colorado approved Amendment 24 by a 10 percent margin. The law defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Today, voters would trounce any such proposal.

Less than 10 years ago, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama boldly declared his objection to same-sex marriage.

– “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian – for me – for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.” – Obama, April 17, 2008.

– “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.” – Obama, Nov. 2, 2008.

– “I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage. But I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine.” – Obama, Oct. 27, 2010.

That’s right, attitudes change. As people defend their sexual orientations, and make themselves known, heterosexual Americans learn they have beloved friends, colleagues and relatives who are lesbian, bisexual, transgender or self-identified “queer.” It is hard to hate loved ones and friends.

Colorado Springs, demonized by media as “conservative,” came to symbolize Amendment 2 after a statewide vote enacted the law in 1992. The measure, stricken by the Supreme Court of the United States, forbade sexual orientation as a condition for protected status.

In 25 years since Amendment 2, Colorado Springs has grown by nearly 70 percent. Most of the 200,000 new residents migrated here. Asked about Amendment 2, they say “huh?”

Focus on the Family, a Christian outreach based in the Springs, has a history of supporting the definition of marriage Obama advanced in 2008. At the same time Obama campaigned on traditional marriage, Focus changed course. Jim Daly became head of the ministry that year, and quickly dispensed with the organization’s “ex-gay” program “Love Won Out.”

So here we are in 2017, home to seven major military bases that embraced the 2011 armed services integration of homosexuals with barely a hint of community objection.

When the Air Force nominated a lesbian as commandant of the Air Force Academy in March, our city mostly reacted with welcoming acceptance. The Gazette, serving a metro of nearly 700,000, received only one negative letter about Col. Kristin Goodwin’s appointment. She is married to a woman and the couple have two kids.

An LGBTQ community of thousands has flourished in the Springs for generations. Challenges remain, as in every zip code, but the community long ago evolved like Obama.

Despite this, a fledgling social network called “Hornet” calls our city a “headquarters of hate” because of Focus and passé anti-Springs media stereotypes. Hornet placed a confrontational billboard at East Platte Avenue and Chelton Road that accuses our city of “hate.”

If Focus were a hate group, which it is not, consider that 99.92 percent of our city’s population does not work there.

Hornet labels all of Topeka, Kan., as hateful because of the tiny Westboro Baptist Church. It calls Washington, D.C, a headquarters of hate for hosting The Family Research Council.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, known for raising funds by slandering Christian and conservative organizations as hate groups, promotes the billboard campaign on its website. Of course.

Notably, Hornet has not attacked Herndon, Va., for hosting the International Institute of Islamic Thought. The institute, influential in Washington, endorses and certifies the Sharia manual “Reliance of the Traveler.” In the book, Allah demands death for homosexual intimacy and labels lesbians as adulterers.

Hornet’s anti-Christian attacks are desperate, hateful, for-profit publicity stunts that exploit hard-earned gains by the LGBTQ community. Acceptance results from love, not judgmental hate writ large on the roadside.