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Homophobia is nothing more than a form of prejudice, and all prejudice is rooted in ignorance. For homophobia to be truly eradicated, the ignorant among us will have to do that which they have been unwilling to do for so long; examine their own hearts and minds and find the real reasons for their fears.

More often than not, if someone truly gets to the root of this issue, they will find they are homophobic because they know only what they have been taught by a rigid and intolerant upbringing or by misguided religious zealots. It is far less often that someone will find they are homophobic because a homosexual has ever harmed them in any way.

That which you fear loses power over you when you begin to understand it. Therefore, if you know only what you have been taught about homosexuality, venture out of your small world and try actually getting to know a homosexual person. You will find they share many of the same daily struggles as you, the same hopes, fears and dreams and that they are not sitting up at night plotting ways to "get" you.

As a gay person living in a small town, I have found that many people who have never known a gay person (to their knowledge), have a lot of questions. Though it is uncomfortable for me, I have patiently answered many deeply personal questions and have been amazed to find that, once people have the answers to some of their lingering questions, they develop an understanding of me as simply another human being, just like them. We often find that we have much more in common than we have differences. It's the same with any group. When you make an effort to talk to someone who is different from you and get to know them, you will find that there is alway some common ground you can share and that is our humanity. We are all basically just people struggling to do our best to get through this thing called life.

Until and unless one is willing to burst the bubble in which he or she lives and expand knowledge and life experience by getting to know people who are different in various ways, prejudice, ignorance, paranoia, homophobia and idiocity will continue to grow and flourish as it always has. I would urge anyone reading this article to make that effort to learn those things you don't know, understand those things you don't understand and banish those unfounded fears. We're all in this together, after all.

Learn more about this author, Bruce W. Coffman.
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