“The first use of the word homophobia is credited to George Weinberg who coined the term in the late 1960s, later discussing it at length in a book in 1972. The first use in print, however, was by activists Jack Nichols and Lige Clarke in their May 23rd column in Screw magazine, 1969. 1
How did we ever get along without this inane terminology for thousands of years?
Watch for this to show up behind glass in the National Archives (maybe replacing the Constitution).
In the 60s and 70s, most homosexual men accused every straight person, male or female, of harboring homosexual tendencies. This was very boring if you had gay friends,btw. So, since they believed you were surpressing your gay inner self, you were ipso facto! a homophobe. That’s how I remember it, anyway.