• Looking at a lesbian or gay man and automatically thinking of her/his sexuality rather than seeing her/him as a whole, complex person.
  
• Failing to be supportive when your gay friend is sad about a quarrel or breakup.
  
• Changing your seat in a meeting because a lesbian sat in the chair next to yours.
  
• Thinking you can “spot one.”
  
• Using the term “lesbian” or “gay” as accusatory.
  
• Not asking about a woman’s female lover or a man’s male lover although you regularly ask, “How is your husband, wife, etc.?” when you run into a heterosexual friend.
  
• Hugging an old friend, but being afraid to do the same thing with a lesbian or gay man.
  
• Thinking that a lesbian (if you are a female) or a gay man (if you are a man) is making sexual advances if she/he touches you.
  
• Feeling repulsed by public displays of affection between lesbians or gay men but accepting the same affection displays between heterosexuals.
  
• Feeling that gays and lesbians are too outspoken about lesbian and gay civil rights.
  
• Feeling that discussions about homophobia are not necessary, because you are ‘okay’ on these issues.
  
• Assuming that everyone you meet is heterosexual.
  
• Being outspoken about gay rights, but making sure that everyone knows that you are straight.
  
• Feeling that a lesbian is just a woman who could not find a man or that a lesbian is a woman who wants to be a man.
  
• Feeling that a gay man is just a man who could not find a woman or that a gay man is a man who wants to be a woman.
  
• Not confronting a homophobic remark for fear of being identified with lesbians and gays.
  
• Worrying about the effect a lesbian or gay volunteer/co-worker will have on your work or your clients.
  
• Asking your lesbian or gay colleagues to speak about lesbian or gay issues, but not about other issues about which they may be knowledgeable.
  
• Focusing exclusively on someone’s sexual orientation and not on other issues of concern.
  
• Being afraid to ask questions about lesbian or gay issues when you don’t know the answers.

Persons with negative homophobic attitudes are…

• Less likely to have had personal contact with lesbians and gay men.
• Less likely to report having engaging in homosexual activities or to identify themselves as gay or lesbians.
• More likely to perceive their peers as manifesting negative attitudes.
• More likely to have resided in areas where negative attitudes are the norm.
• Likely to be older and less educated.
• More likely to be religious, to attend church regularly, and to subscribe to a conservative religious ideology.
• More likely to express traditional, restrictive attitudes about sex role.
• Less permissive sexually or manifest more guilt or negatively about sexuality.
• More likely to manifest high levels of authoritarianism. (Dogmatism, rigidity, intolerance of ambiguity.)

In the clinical sense, homophobia is defined as an intense, irrational fear of same sex relationships that become overwhelming to the person. In common usage, homophobia is the fear of intimate relationships with persons of the same sex.

Below are listed four homophobic attitudes and four positive levels of attitudes toward gay and lesbian relationships/people. They were developed by Dr. Dorothy Riddle, a psychologist from Tucson, Arizona. *Although these attitudes may also apply to bisexuals or transgendered individuals, they were conceptualized primarily with regard to gays and lesbians.