You do not have to be a member of or know someone in the LGBTQ community to be adversely affected by homophobia. Although homophobia specifically targets the LGBTQ community and individuals within it, it also affects heterosexuals.

• Homophobia inhibits the ability of heterosexuals to form close, intimate relationships with members of their own sex because they fear being perceived as LGBTQ.
• Homophobia imprisons people in rigid gender-based roles that inhibit creativity and self-expression.
• Homophobia often stigmatizes heterosexuals who are perceived or labeled as LGBTQ, are children of LGBTQ parents, are parents of LGBTQ children or are friends of a LGBTQ person.
• Homophobia compromises human integrity by pressuring people to mistreat others.
• Homophobia, when combined with sex-phobia, results in the invisibility or erasure of the LGBTQ community and sexuality in school-based sex education discussion, which keeps vital information from students.
• Homophobia is one cause of premature sexual involvement, which increases the chance of teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Young people of all sexual identities are often pressured to become heterosexually active to prove to themselves and others that they are “normal.”
• Homophobia prevents some LGBTQ people from developing an authentic self-identity.
• Homophobia inhibits the appreciation of other types of diversity, making it unsafe for everyone because each person has unique traits not considered mainstream or dominant. We are all diminished when any one of us is demeaned.

Last Modified: May 8, 2007