'homophobia' vs 'queerphobia'

[cicada]

having quite a few conversations with people lately about the word 'homophobia' and 'queerphobia'

i totally get that especially older people have issues with the word 'queer' and therefore prefer 'homophobia' as a term for the hatin' against LBGTIQ people, and that 'homophobia' is much more widely known a term than 'queerphobia'

however, 'homophobia' technically only covers homosexuals - lesbians and gay (men), and ignores the experience of bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer as people. This unfortunately, in my experience as a queer person, is reflective of the larger GLBTIQ / Queer movement. (i often think that the mainstream GLBTIQ movement is more like Glb_ _ ]

'queerphobia' includes both homophobia, transphobia, biphobia and other phobias/ the hate against all queers and is therefore a much more inclusive and realistic word to use regarding discrimination faced by queer people

just in case y'all haven't thought about it before

[emilykate]

Another benefit of the word 'queerphobia' is that when having used it you find yourself met with blank expressions, it gives you yet another opportunity to explain the diversity of the queer ommunity... and humanity in general

Hopefully, one day, neither homophobia nor queerphobia will exist.

[Erica Chan]

Agreed. And I think 'queerphobia' really does encompass why the phobias are there in the first place. It's good to have a more inclusive label too. I'm kinda sick of having people say "I'm not homophobic, but..."

[lanley]

THANK YOU Cicada!
As you know, I care very much about this issue!
I went to a couple of meetings of a social "GLBT" group earlier this year, which turned out to be just a "GL" group of course - why do they bother putting the other letters there?! Anyway, we were discussing the film "Boys Don't Cry" and someone wanted to know what it was about. So I explained that it was about a trans man who was 'discovered' as being trans and...well, I won't give away the rest of the plot here! But the person didn't understand what I meant, so their friend explained that no, it was about a CHICK who WANTED TO BE A MAN, but then people found out that SHE WAS ACTUALLY A CHICK! (I literally didn't hear the word 'woman' once while I was at either meeting) God, what is the point of pretending to accept/care about people who are queer-but-not-necessarily-gay when you're just going to write them off like that.

Another serial offender is the socialist alternative movement (at Monash at least) - you'll notice that every one of their posters says "homophobia" and I've even tried to pull them up on it in person, but they're not capable of re-assessing their beliefs, so...