Homophobia, in my mind, means having a fear or hatred of those who practice homosexuality. Believing that homosexual acts are immoral does not mean you fear or hate those who practice them, just as believing that drug abuse is immoral does not mean you hate everyone who struggles with drug addiction. Thus, I don't think I'm being inconsistent in believing that homosexual acts are immoral and still loving my friends and family members who practice them.
Homophobia - an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. It includes antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, and hatred of homosexuals.
You talk about loving friends and family members "who practice them" but in the same breath you are comparing them to substance abusers
That comparison is a fine example of homophobia.
You bring another example of homophobia out into the spotlight when you talk about practicing homosexuality. People don't practice homosexuality any more than people practice heterosexuality. LGBT people are LGBT even if they have never had sex of any kind. I am reminded of racists who insist they don't hate or have any animosity towards black people saying their issues are with those black people who ignore the word of god and engage in the immoral behavior of acting as if they were the social and moral equals of white people They will say that they have no problem with black people and in fact love their black friends as long as "they know their place"
Why do I think homosexual acts are immoral, you might ask? First of all, I would say that merely being consensual does not make a sexual act moral. If a father and his adult daughter both consent to have sex with each other, is that moral?
So now being gay is the equivalent of being incestious?
I don't think many would say so. "But it doesn't hurt anyone! They both consented!" Yes, but the act is contrary to nature. I would say that homosexual acts make less biological sense than even consensual incest.
and now LGBT people are unnatural.
They can cause disease and create major health problems.
Just like heterosexual intercourse can cause disease and major health problems.
This is why I don't buy "love is love." I think that to love is to desire the good of the other, and since homosexual acts often harm those who participate in them, they are inherently unloving and therefore immoral.
and again heterosexual acts cause harm and are therefor unloving and therefor immoral
But again, drug abuse is objectively harmful, but that doesn't mean I fear or hate those who struggle with drug addiction
This answer, simple as it is, doesn't seem to satisfy some people, though. If you still think I'm homophobic, why is that? Peace
you are homophobic because you have just irrationally declared LGBT people are unnatural, immoral and disease ridden.
so you are expressing irrational fear of LGBT people antipathy, along with contempt and outright hatred.
You have brought up how horrible homosexuals are for hurting (in your mind) other people but will pause for a moment to consider how your attitudes and homophobia are hurting people?