homophile

Definition

1. Another word for homosexual, a person who is sexually and emotionally attracted to members of his or her own sex. Since its coinage in the 1950s, this term has gained in popularity among gay men and lesbians presumably because it stresses, rightly, that their feelings towards the same sex do not merely involve sexual feelings, but the entire complexity of human feelings including love, tenderness, respect, and sexual desire; homosexual it is felt places too much emphasis on the sexual aspect of their feelings.

2. Or: homophilia , liking people of the same gender; sympathetic to homosexual men and women.

3. Actively concerned with the rights and welfare of gay men and lesbians with reference to homosexual associations that promote gay liberation movements. Homophile organizations, homophile conferences, homophile publications, are devoted to the improvement of the status of the homosexual.

4. More rarely, and incorrectly , a pedophile.

ETYMOLOGY: From the Greek homos , same as, and -philos , dear or beloved.

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