homophobia (adjective, homophobic): the condition in which those whose love and lust are attached to others of the same sex are dreaded or feared pathological fear of homosexualism. It is not itself a paraphilia, but may be associated with one, as in homophobic lust murder [from Greek, homos, same + phobos, fear or fright]. See also heterophobia.

Dictionary of Sexology Project: Main Index

umquam raises an interesting question by attributing the homophobia of many Christians to their dogmatic beliefs about the nature of God -- that he is male and mysterious, and hence not subject to more mundane and accessible manifestations of human love. But isn't a more obvious reason simply that Christians believe that the bible forbids homosexuality?

Christians are famous for personalizing, rather than depersonalizing the love of God (e.g. in the form of a Jewish carpenter). For Christians to be less homophobic, somebody needs to make a good case for how the six or so passages that deal with homosexuality in the old and new testament are not condemnations of monagomous homosexual relationships. Peter Gomes, the pastor at Harvard University, does a pretty good job of this in his book named The Good Book. It will (obviously) be a long time before such ideas are accepted by fundamentalists, but many of the larger denominations in the United States, including the Presbyterian Church of the USA, have voted to allow homosexuals to be members. This is something that even the Boy Scouts haven't managed to do. Maybe they did it with God's help.

For just such an attempt by a few of our friends at Everything2, please see: A Theological Justification for Homosexual Intercourse

Also, I've been informed that the United Church of Christ ordains gay men and women, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America ordains openly gay people.

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