Yes, he most definitely is afraid of you.
The most politically charged term out there. Used for completely the wrong reason. If someone has a phobia, it implies that they really can’t help but fear something, often a developed defensive response to trauma. I would estimate that the majority of people called homophobic by leftists wouldn’t fit the description, which would mean, it it were a genuine phobia that they got raped and are now scared that some homosexual individual would try raping or attacking them. Phobia does not make a person a monster, it means a person has an issue due to real problems that they suffered or are suffering, and usually a preservation response gone a little out there. Very few people match that description, leftists throw out the term for anyone who slightly disagrees with anything pushed by a far-left homosexual, which does not describe an aversion, or a trauma-based fear, but rather is an insult or a slur for anyone who thinks differently. Chances are, the businessmen are with Log Cabin Republicans or some group of that sort and are willing to take agreement on issues of fiscal or foreign policy, even if Cruz isn’t for pushing SSM down everybody’s throats.
RE: So then, he’s NOT a “homophobe”?
Neither are most conservatives that I know.
That term is used as a tool to bludgeon conservatives and to propagate stereotypes that conservatives are evil, intolerant basterds.