Whenever someone uses the slippery word \u201chomophobia\u201d, we know immediately that rational thought has been abandoned in favour of a treasured but meaningless clich\u00e9. The OED defines homophobia <\/i>as \u201can extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people\u201d. My daughter suffered from arachnophobia, leading to numerous pranks involving rubber spiders finding their way into her glass of water; the resultant shrieking was gratifying to no-one but the perpetrator \u2013 usually her brother. That was (she has overcome it now) a true phobia.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know anyone who is homophobic; I am not denying the possibility of the existence of such a phobia, but I\u2019ve never encountered it. I suppose it could be treated in much the same way as arachnophobia, by systematic desensitization: first the sufferer would be invited to look at a photograph of a homosexual, then be placed in the same room at opposite ends, later a \u201cgood morning\u201d could be exchanged and finally the whole thing would end with a hug.<\/p>\n
That is absurd because, of course, it isn\u2019t what Desmond Tutu and his ilk mean by \u201chomophobia.\u201d In Tutu\u2019s view a person who is \u201chomophobic\u201d is anyone who doesn\u2019t agree with him about the morality or immorality of homosexual activity, regardless of whether the disagreement is founded in rationality or revelation.<\/p>\n
For Tutu, it\u2019s all about emotion; if fact, it almost appears as if he experiences an extreme and irrational aversion<\/i> – a phobia – to anyone who disagrees with him about homosexuality \u2013 including God.<\/p>\n
From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” Archbishop Tutu said at the launch of the Free and Equal campaign in Cape Town.<\/p>\n “I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whenever someone uses the slippery word \u201chomophobia\u201d, we know immediately that rational thought has been abandoned in favour of a treasured but meaningless clich\u00e9. The OED defines homophobia as \u201can extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people\u201d. My … Continue reading