> > >the notion of "homophobia" has always
> > >struck me as uniquely ridiculous.
> >
> > Do you have a problem with xenophobia?
>
>An illness is individual, different in each person who suffers from it.
>Hence trying to interpret a general political phenomenon in terms of an
>illness is a bit iffy at best.
The article Doug sent a link to is very informative on this I think (link below). Here's a quote addressing what you're saying:
"Here [in a study the author cites] homophobia was operationally defined as the degree of “dread” experienced when placed in close quarters with a homosexualbasically, how comfortable or uncomfortable the person was in interacting with gay people. (There is debate in the clinical literature about the semantics of this term, with some scholars introducing other constructs such as “homonegativism” to underscore the more cognitive nature of some people’s antigay stance.)"
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=single-angry-straight-male&print=true