Psychology & Psychiatry

Study identifies psychological traits associated with homophobia

A new study that investigated the potential of certain psychological traits for predisposing heterosexuals to have negative attitudes towards homosexual people found that psychoticism—which is present in severe psychopathological ...

HIV & AIDS

The health effects of homophobia

Gay and bisexual men living in European countries with strong attitudes and policies against homosexuality are far less likely to use HIV-prevention services, test for HIV, and discuss their sexuality with health providers, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Telling kids homophobia is wrong won't stop bullying in schools

There is no doubt that homophobic bullying is a problem in Australian schools. The latest Writing Themselves in report published by Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria reports 80% of young gay, lesbian or questioning teens experience ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Key elements in preventing homophobic bullying in schools

How are non-heterosexual people affected by discrimination endured in the school environment due to their affective-sexual orientation? This question was the starting point in the PhD thesis produced by the researcher Aitor ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Pride and prejudice: Pride impacts racism and homophobia

A new University of British Columbia study finds that the way individuals experience the universal emotion of pride directly impacts how racist and homophobic their attitudes toward other people are.

HIV & AIDS

Stigma among HIV-positive women complex and overlapping

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Mona Loutfy of the University of Toronto, Canada and colleagues report their study examining experiences of stigma and coping strategies among HIV-positive women in Ontario, Canada.

HIV & AIDS

Confronting homophobia in South Africa

"Being gay is not a sickness or a choice." This is just one of the uncompromising messages in a bold poster campaign being rolled out by the newly launched Ukwazana Programme which works in the sprawling townships around ...

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Homophobia

Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the implication of antipathy, contempt, prejudice, and aversion. The term "homophobia" is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of a perceived homosexual or in some cases any non-heterosexual orientation. In a 1998 address, author, activist, and civil rights leader Coretta Scott King stated that "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood."

Among more discussed forms are institutionalized "homophobia" (e.g. religious and state-sponsored), lesbophobia – the intersection of "homophobia" and what is politically referred to with the term "sexism" directed against lesbians, and internalized homophobia – a form of "homophobia" among people who experience same-sex attraction regardless of whether or not they identify as LGBT.

Two words originate from homophobia: homophobic (adj.) and homophobe (n.). A person who displays homophobia or is thought to do so is described as being homophobic and labeled as a homophobe.

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