Homophobia

Homophobia is most commonly defined as an irrational hatred and fear of nonheterosexuals, or sexual minority groups, and specifically lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals. The term homophobia was first used among American psychologists in the late 1960s and early 1970s to describe a fear held by heterosexuals that others might perceive them to be homosexual. Although psychologists were the first to use the term, it is not listed as a bona fide phobia in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is therefore more of a cultural rather than clinical term. As an illustration of this cultural usage, in his foreword to Sex, Love, Homophobia: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans-gender Lives by Vanessa Baird, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond ...