Coiner Of 'Homophobia' Unhappy With AP Ban

George Weinberg, the Manhattan psychotherapist who coined the term homophobia in the 60s, is unhappy about the AP's ban on the word.

Next year's print edition of the AP's influential style book will recommend against the use of “phobia” in “political and social contexts,” including terms like “homophobia” and "Islamophobia.”

Homophobia is “ascribing a mental disability to someone, and suggests a knowledge that we don't have,” AP Deputy Standards Editor Dave Minthorn told POLITICO. “It seems inaccurate. Instead, we would use something more neutral: anti-gay, or some such, if we had reason to believe that was the case.”

Speaking on NPR's On The Media, Weinberg, the author of Society and the Healthy Homosexual, defended use of the word, saying that homophobia is a real mental disorder.

“People should be treated for it,” he said, “but nobody goes to a therapist and says, 'Please treat me for my irrational hatred of homosexuals.”

Weinberg noted that there are appropriate times for using “homophobia.”

“If you're anti-gay, you can be talked to. If you're homophobic, you can't.”

“Not all rage, not all hatred is phobic. But we have no word coming even close. And part of my objection to banning this word is, what other word do you got?” he added.