Homophobia

"Homophobia" is most commonly used to indicate a general opposition to the idea that homosexuality is an acceptable state of being. It is rarely employed in its full "strong" sense, i.e. an irrational phobic response to the very thought of same-sex relationships.

Those who oppose the acceptance of homosexuality often react angrily to the word's use, believing that it is employed to trivialize or disparage their objections, without proper consideration of their actual arguments. Indeed, its common use contains an implicit value judgement, on a par with referring to someone or something as racist or sexist.

Whilst principled objections to homosexuality are perfectly possible, particularly on religious grounds, gay men and women continue to suffer violence and intimidation because of their sexual orientation.^{[Citation Needed]} This must clearly be resisted in any civilised society.

Etymology

The word comes from combining the Greek prefix homo-, meaning "same", and suffix -phobia, meaning "fear of". This neologism was promoted by George Weinberg, a gay activist and psychologist, who attempted to define it in clinical literature in 1972 as "the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals." From there the term entered the mainstream currency through pornographic publications. Based upon research within the therapeutic community, William O'Donohue and Christine E. Caselles conclude that a clear understanding of the term has not been adequately evaluated and that it is not clear whether the term can be accurately characterized:

"The construct of homophobia, as it is usually used, makes an illegitimately pejorative evaluation of certain open and debatable value positions, much like the former disease construct of homosexuality."