Homophobia would be an irrational fear or hatred of homosexuals, if it really existed. The current usage of terms like "homophobic" and "homophobe" imply that all opposition to homosexuality is crazy. Actually there are many sociological, psychological and medical reasons that many logically-thinking people oppose homosexuality. People who abuse terms like "homophobia" are implying (whether they know it or not), that it's impossible to "love the sinner and hate the sin". No one talks about opposition to alcoholism in terms of
hatred, because groups like
Alcoholics Anonymous have popularized the view that drinking alcohol is addictive. The term
homophobia, when it is applied to every criticism of
homosexuality, implies that all such criticism is irrational (see
phobia).