It's interesting that you've said that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed bc of rapists (and other sins) and not homosexuality. Every source I've read has stated homosexuality as the reason and I don't think I've ever seen rape being discussed as the major crime. Do you have specific sources? I'm not Christian myself, so my sources might just be terrible, since I've probably not looked deeply enough.
It is indeed interesting/sad that no one listed rape as the reason. However, my source (which I also included in my answer) is right here.
The paramount issue is a frequently mistranslated word, yada, which many modern translations claim to mean “have sex with” (i.e. “The people of Sodom wanted to have sex with the travelers as payment for their hospitality,” which, honestly, is creepy enough.) However, as the article puts it:
“A much more accurate — and responsible — translation for yada in the NIV, NASB, and NAB would be “to rape” or “to molest,” since the acts described in Genesis 19:5 have nothing to do with consensual or loving sex.”
In other words, a more faithful translation points to the people of Sodom being sexual predators, though modern translations have changed it, perhaps in a bid to be less inflammatory. However, there are obvious problems with that, such as the fact that it confirms the preconceptions of many that the sin of Sodom was homosexuality and not rape.
As another, and somewhat more radically Christian source puts it,
“The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to perform homosexual gang rape on the two angels (who were disguised as men). At the same time, it is not biblical to say that homosexuality was the exclusive reason why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Granted, this source does hold that homosexuality is a sin to begin with (and on par with angel rape, no less) and I’m hesitant to point followers to it, but you get the idea: the angels’ issue with Sodom was definitely not that they wanted some safe, sane, and consensual sexy times. They rightly took issue with the fact that the men of Sodom wanted to rape them, and that the rape of travelers was evidently nothing new.
I hope this helps add some clarification.
