Actually, his knee-jerk responses to gay-related issues, particularly gay marriage, and his “I wish they wouldn’t kiss where I can see them” plaints got him the description. Not liking those particular scenes is a matter of taste, I suppose–the rolleyes was because I consider his response an overreaction to some thoroughly non-explicit scenes. However, it was representative of his response to the books; he simply pretended that the protagonist wasn’t gay, which is not at all the sort of response Guin was looking for.
You do raise a valid point about the proper definition of the term. It’s definitely drifted from the original meaning–I generally see it used now as a shorthand for “person bearing a prejudice against homosexuals”. Do you have an equally concise and more precise term that you prefer?
Um, she (he?) said MORE precise, not less.
And the guy ignoring that Van was gay and pretending he was with women totally screws up the plot, since it Van’s being gay was a major part in how his relationship with his father went.
And interestingly enough, though there was a lot of homophobia in Valdemar prior to Vanyel, by the time of Queen Selenay, those who are shaych aren’t looked at like they’re perverts, for the most part. (There are a few who are upset, but not many).
Hence the smiley. I don’t have such a word, I was being a bit of a smartass with the “bigot” thing. I don’t know that a correct word exists. Maybe “sexualist” although that sounds horribly awkward.
I (“he”, BTW) got it. The point is that there isn’t really a precisely suitable term; that’s why “homophobe” has been co-opted for the purpose. Properly speaking, there should be an equivalent of “racist” or “sexist” for use in such discussions, but no such term has taken hold–and it’s probably too late for it to do so, now that this application of “homophobia” has made it into the dictionaries. Merriam-Webster defines it as “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals”. Trying to change it at this point is probably tilting at windmills (but then, I’m still trying to get people to use “hacker” properly).
I agree with prior posters that it’d be tough to change a homophobe’s mind with a book. But it might work on someone who, say, wasn’t a deep-down, committed homophobe, but instead a sort of mild-homophobe-by-default, as too many high school students seem to be.
In that light:
Orson Scott Card’s Songmaster. It’s pretty good.
Yes, I know Card weirdly endorses LDS homophobia with “for the good of the community” and “God says it’s a sin” drivel. Yes, I know a lot of people think he’s probably gay but repressed himself, and I wonder about this myself. It doesn’t particularly seem to have affected this book. His godawful “Homecoming” series, now…
