I attended the funeral of a gay man in a Baptist church about 3-1/2 years ago. He had become a Christian before his death and I had the honor to be holding him on his left side when he died. The church could have been legalistic and declined to hold the funeral, but as a result of the service, about 200 gay men and women had the opportunity -- probably the first for many of them -- to hear the message of salvation preached by both the pastor and by my friend's uncle, who is also a pastor. As the mourners viewed the body and filed past those of us in the front row, almost all of them said it was the most beautiful funeral service that they had ever attended.
This church who refused to offer a funeral is a horrible witness to Christ.
The possible difference in this case may be whether or not the vet had come to Christ through repentance. That was not mentioned in the article. It’s omitting that info LEADS me to believe that the man was not saved. There is a vast difference between your friend and the message at his funeral and the funeral of an open and unrepentant homosexual.
This man did NOT BELONG TO THAT CHURCH!! He belonged to NO Church..it said so in the story.