CHAPTER 2
                       BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE

      The scientific study of gays did not emerge until the later half of the last century, and a most of the research pathologized the behavior. It was not until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association, which had classified it as a mental disorder, removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Understandably, the body of academic research on gays is limited, hence so is the specific study of homonegativity.

      In 1973 Weinberg documented a term in academic literature describing negative

attitudes toward lesbians and gays. That term was "homophobia" and directly meant "the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals and in the case of homosexuals themselves, self-loathing" (p. 4). Over the years the term has been redefined as attitudinal structures toward gays and lesbians have been better studied. In 1983, Gramick created the term "homosexphobia" to describe a fear of homosexuality. Other terms since created include "sexual prejudice," "homonegativity" (Herek 2000) "homosexism," (Hansen 1982) and "homoprejudice" (Logan 1996). Although "homophobia" is the most common term (because it was the first), many social scientists have identified an inherent flaw with it. Using a medical model, homophobia as a term has pathological implications that may not be inherent. For the purposes of this paper the term homonegativity will be used to define negative attitudes toward lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders1.




1 For the purposes of simplicity the terms LGBT and/or gay will be used synonymously to describe lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders alike.