June 21, 2006

The definition of homophobia

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen recently engaged in another of his frequent rants. Angry over criticisms leveled at him by columnist Jay Mariotti, Guillen made headlines by responding "What a piece of shit he is, fucking fag."

This incident piqued my interest for two reasons. First, the ESPN.com story produced the following hilarious quote:

Guillen also told [another reporter] that he has gay friends, attends WNBA games, went to a Madonna concert and plans to go to the Gay Games in Chicago.

Awesome.

But aside from that, the story got me thinking about the term 'homophobia'. 'Homo', depending on its usage, means either 'human' (in Latin) or 'same' (Greek). And I think most people believe 'phobia' to mean 'irrational fear', although it can also mean 'a strong dislike or aversion'.

So, fine, obviously the 'homo' in 'homophobia' really means homosexual. But when and why did 'homosexual' become the specific referent of such a general prefix? Why doesn't homophobia refer to homophones? What about homogeneity?

I suspect the homoptera lobby wasn't powerful enough to put anything together. Which is too bad- I hate those fuckin homos.

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