Psychologist George Weinberg popularized the word in the late 1960s and early 1970s. US law long enforced homophobia directly. In 1953, an executive order allowed the federal government to fire workers for "sexual perversion," part of a purge known as the Lavender Scare. The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1973.
Change came through organizing. The 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York launched the modern gay rights movement. The Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 and recognized same-sex marriage nationwide in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. In 2020, Bostock v. Clayton County held that firing someone for being gay or transgender violates federal law.
Homophobia still drives violence. In 2016, a gunman killed 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, on its Latin night. Anti-racist work recognizes that LGBTQ people of color face both homophobia and racism.