The "I'm not homophobic/transphobic because I don't *fear* gay/trans people" line proper irks me.
Firstly, it's ignoring the definition of phobia, which is an irrational fear or aversion to somthing. This is because it comes from the Greek ψόβος (Phóbos) which is used interchangeably for fear or aversion. This is because it comes from the word φέβομαι (Phébomai) which means to run from.
And before we get the "oh your just using a technically for the gays", oh no sweetie, we've been using Phobia for aversion long before you hit the scene.
If something is hydrophobic, it does not have a fear of water, but is instead greatly averse to it and repels it.
If you are Photophobic, you are not afraid of light, you are extremely sensitive to it and therefore adverse to it.
If an animal is Thermophobic, that doesn't mean it has a fear of heat, it just avoids hot environments and prefers cold ones. (This is normally applied to bacteria in terms of organisms, but its perfectly acceptable to apply it to larger organisms like penguins).
So no, you haven't got some slam-dunk with "phobia means fear and I'm not afraid." You're just showing that you know nothing about the usage of the word Phobia over the past 2000-3000 years because you only know of a clinical diagnosis that shares the suffix Phobia.
Pride month reblog.
