Before the French, homosexuality was tolerated (in the Ottoman empire),

That's nonsense, the "toleration" which you talk about is a product of the 19th century Tanzimat, which was a very small and Westernized elite who held beliefs and views which had nothing to do with their actual society. Hence why those "reforms" failed, like how they failed in literally all Middle Eastern societies to this very day.

Those reforms happened because the Ottomans came under Western pressure/influence, and not the contrary. Homosexuality was always an illegal thing.

It's like how some people think "velayat e faqih" somehow invented blasphemy. No, in a Shiite society, regardless of how it's ruled and the nature of its government, blasphemy is always illegal. Iran did not invent this concept, neither did Khomeini do so.

Also, there's no relation at all between being "young" today and somehow following values and a culture which is at odds with your society. If anything, it just says more about you personnally and the kind of restrictive social circle which you follow, it does not say anything about your society. (And you had a civil war with people who hold views contrary to yours, so your point is false)

The only reason why you don't see the "unprogressive" ones is because they either were killed in war/displaced, or they keep low and accept they lost the war so as to not gather attention on themselves.

The young of today are not wiser than the young of yesterday, or those of tomorrow.