What is homophobia?
Homo is the Greek word for same. Therefore homosexual means same sex or a sexual attraction towards someone of your own sex. Phobia is an irrational fear or hatred of something. So homophobia is an irrational fear or hatred of homosexual or gay men. To answer the next part of the question it’s necessary to clarify where this phobia of gay people comes from. We are all born into a world that has in place a number of laws, cultures, and political systems, religions, which decide what is acceptable and unacceptable. Over time what is acceptable and unacceptable changes. A good example is the change in the age of consent for gay men. Back in the first half of the 20th Century ‘homosexual acts’ were illegal and punishable by a prison sentence. Slowly society and its attitudes changed (in part due to gay rights pressure groups). In the 1970’s the law changed and homosexual acts became legal between consenting adults in private over the age of 21.
Homophobia is a term used to describe the fear and/or hatred of or the discomfort with people who love and sexually desire members of the same sex. Homophobic reactions often lead to intolerance, bigotry, and violence against anyone not acting within culturally determined heterosexual norms. People who are homophobic are often afraid to get to know LGBT people. They are sometimes afraid that other people will think they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Or, they worry that an LGBT person may be attracted to them.
