Homophobia (from Greek ὁμο homo(sexual), "same, equal" + φοβία (phobia), "fear", literally "fear of the equal") is the fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.

Etymology and usage
The word homophobia was rarely used early in the twentieth century, and it meant "fear or hatred of the male sex or humankind." In this use, the word derived from the Latin root homo (Latin, "man" or "human") with the Greek ending -phobia ("fear").
A possible etymological precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.

Coinage
Similar terms such as heterosexism have been proposed as alternatives that are more morphologically parallel, and which do not have the association with phobia. Heterosexism refers to the privileging of heterosexuality over homosexuality. Queer Theory and critical theory use the terms heterocentric and heteronormativity to refer to similar ontological assumptions.

Similar terms
Neither the American Heritage Dictionary [2] nor the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) include the phrase "irrational" in the definition as fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. Footnote 4 of Merriam Webster dictionary's definition defines homophobia as "irrational fear". This difference may reflect the opinions of critics of the term.

Defining Homophobia as 'Irrational'
Some researchers within the field have preferred other terms to "homophobia." For example, Gregory M. Herek, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, compared several related terms: "homophobia," "heterosexism," and "sexual prejudice." In preferring the latter term, he noted that "homophobia" was "probably more widely used and more often criticized," and observed that. "Its critics note that homophobia implicitly suggests that antigay attitudes are best understood as an irrational fear and that they represent a form of individual psychopathology rather than a socially reinforced prejudice." He preferred "sexual prejudice" as being descriptive and free of presumptions about motivations, and lacking in value judgments as to the irrationality or immorality of those so labeled.

Critics of the term
Disapproval of homosexuality and of homosexuals is not evenly distributed throughout society, but is more or less pronounced according to age, sex, social class, education and religious status. According to UK HIV/AIDS charity AVERT, low educational level and social status, lack of homosexual feelings or experiences, religious views, and lack of interaction with homosexuals are strongly associated with such views.

Classification of homophobia
Internalized homophobia (or ego-dystonic homophobia) refers to homophobia as a prejudice carried by individuals against homosexual manifestations in themselves and others. It causes severe discomfort with or disapproval of one's own sexual orientation.
Such a situation may cause extreme repression of homosexual desires. In other cases, a conscious internal struggle may occur for some time, often pitting deeply held religious or social beliefs against strong sexual and emotional desires. This discordance often causes clinical depression, and the unusually high suicide rate among homosexual teenagers (up to 30% of non-heterosexual youth attempt suicide) has been attributed to this phenomenon. were considerably more likely to experience more erectile responses when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men.

Internalized homophobia
This article has been tagged since December 2006.
A component considered to play into homophobia, as considered by some theorists, such as Calvin Thomas and Judith Butler, is an individual's fear of being identified as homosexual him- or herself.
This notion suggests that when expressing homophobic viewpoints and emotions, the individual who does so is not only expressing his thoughts as to homosexuals, but also actively attempting to distance himself from this category and attributed social status. Therefore, by distancing him or herself from the people in question, he/she is reaffirming his/her role as a heterosexual, within heteronormativity, and contributing to the avoidance of his/her potential labeling and consequent treatment as a homosexual.
This interpretation plays into notions of violent opposition to "the Other" as a means of establishing one's identity as part of the majority and therefore, validated by society. This concept is also recurrent in interpretations of racism and xenophobia.
Nancy J. Chodorow states that homophobia can be viewed as method of protection of male masculinity.

Fear of being identified as a homosexual
This article has been tagged since December 2006.
Gay rights supporters generally use the terms "homophobia" and "homophobic" to imply that all opposition to homosexuality is irrational. Whether viewed as prejudices or legitimate moral opinions, attitudes frowning on LGBT orientations and lifestyles have been reflected in legislation and these attitudes have had a profound impact on political debates over LGBT civil rights in general. Some look at people holding negative attitudes about LGBT people and assign blame to them for a creating or perpetuating a climate of prejudice that has resulted in violence against LGBT people, by individuals, states or other organizations.
Many social and religious attitudes toward homosexuality are negative, which some might describe as a form of prejudice. See Societal attitudes towards homosexuality and Religion and homosexuality.
Psychology researchers have used measures such as the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) to predict homophobic attitudes. These measures are traditionally used to measure other forms of prejudice.

Homophobia as leading to a climate of prejudice
Some gender theorists interpret the fact that male-to-male relationships often incite a stronger reaction in a homophobic person than female-to-female (lesbian) as meaning that the homophobic person feels threatened by the perceived subversion of the gender paradigm in male-to-male sexual activity. According to such theorists as D.A. Miller, male heterosexuality is defined not only by the desire for women but also, and more importantly, by the denial of desire for men. Therefore, expressions of homophobia serve as a means of limiting those who they view as displaced in heteronormativity, and also of accenting their male nature, by isolating the threatening concept of their own potential femininity in gay men, and consequently belittling them, as not real males. They regard the reason male homosexuality is treated worse compared to female homosexuality as sexist in its underlying belief that men are superior to women and therefore for a man to "replace" a woman during intercourse with another man is his own subjection to (non-male) inferiority.
However, this view would imply that only the receptive male partner in homosexual acts would be thought of as "offensive", which is the case in many cultures. Miller's specific claim that male heterosexuality does not require "desire for women" would seem to preclude the possibility of asexuality or bisexuality. Nor is it clear why male heterosexuals would "need" or even fear homosexuals in order to affirm maleness – unless their sexuality was already experienced as threatened by some other cause.

Sexist beliefs
To combat homophobia, the LGBT community uses events such as pride parades and political activism (See gay pride). Many of these displays are criticized for reinforcing negative stereotypes about LGBT people (e.g. "dykes on bikes," the prominence of cross-dressing, a gay male fascination with musicals, the color pink, antireligious sentiments). Some are meant to challenge such stereotypes and often include the involvement of liberal religious organizations that support gay rights (See Religion and homosexuality), the families of LGBT people, and LGBT people with children.

Combatting homophobia

Accusations of homophobia
It is often argued that the key motivation for active opposition to equal civil rights for LGBT people is homophobia. In popular culture