There is a continuum between LOVE and FEAR. Hate is on the fear-side of things. Homophobia means the person is also on the fear-side of things. So if a person hates homosexuals, it's still accurate to call them homophobic.

A valid point. No proof god exists.

Actually the word "homophobia" is wrong. "homo" means the same, as in homogenized. So homophobia strictly means being the afraid of being the same as everyone else

Yes, scared of turning gay themselves...that's what the phobia is about. It's not about being physically afraid of gay people.

I don’t get it, but I have relatives on my dad’s side that are scared of house cats. People are strange and can be scared of all kinds of things. In my relatives case it’s pathological, so I’d say phobia is apt. Himophobia is probably a learned behavior, so I would not use phobia specifically for that.

I think it really is a phobia for some. They're afraid that they'll catch it and they hate it so much that is terrifying to them. Probably means they're not as straight as they would like to be.

Still real phobias are not that common. Like sexuality, it isn't black and white. Understanding could fix most of it.

I think if there was a god that entity would not have a problem with gay people. But since there is no evidence for super natural entities we definitely don't have to worry.