[Verginius Rufus]

"Homophobia" and "homophobe" are good examples of Newspeak, but they are more than 15 years old.

I recall a conversation with a friend of mine, probably in the 1990s (he died in Jan. 2001 of cancer) about the word "homophobia" which he insisted was a valid word. He was a liberal college professor but not a homosexual (was married to a lovely woman to whom he was very devoted).

[pcottraux]

I looked into my memory to try and remember when I first started hearing “homophobe” all the time, and I guesstimated about 15 years at least. The number’s not exact. It wouldn’t even really be a question on whether the word is valid anymore, would it?