The Dumbest Word in the English Language

To kick off “Pride Pervert Month”—best known as June—the degenerates of West Hollywood paraded this (warning: graphic) in front of children:

Men wearing underwear and f*tish gear dance provocatively in front of children at a “family friendly” pride parade in California pic.twitter.com/7JYwsCW3Zk

— Mr. zhang (@zhangkuancheng) June 1, 2025

Libs of TikTok, Nancy Mace, Turning Point and others reported on this evil debauchery. Likewise, after airing a “‘pro gay’ episode” that featured “prominent zesty cross dresser Johnathan Van Ness,” Sesame Street has been accused of “grooming” children.:

Parents, BEWARE!

Sesame Street is grooming your kids.

This show is aimed at TODDLERS and what do they promote?

- covid vaccines
- BLM protests
- transgender kids
- pride month
- lgbtq propaganda

GROOMERS. https://t.co/VEyMpxnt7J pic.twitter.com/4mShlAooko

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 1, 2025

That sure looks like grooming to me! Of course, when you or I call out this evil for what it is, almost certainly we get labeled with what I have long referred to as “the dumbest word in the English language.” That word is “homophobe” (which stems from the equally dumb word “homophobia”).

“Homophobia” was coined by psychologist and gay activist George Weinberg in his 1972 book Society and the Healthy Homosexual. The book was published one year prior to the American Psychiatric Association removing homosexuality (by a vote of 5,834 to 3,810) from its list of mental disorders. The word became an important tool for homosexual activists and their allies. Weinberg gave them a “medical” phobia with which to attack their opponents.

Weinberg defined the word as “the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals,” adding “It was a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for—home and family. It was a religious fear and it had led to great brutality as fear always does.”

Merriam-Webster defines homophobia as “discrimination against, aversion to, or fear of homosexuality or gay people.” One problem with the word is that it makes no sense etymologically. “Homo,” from the Greek, means “the same” and “phobia,” from the Greek, means “fear.” So literally, homophobia means fear of the same.

However, my greatest complaint with the term does not stem from its etymological shortcomings. The English language, like most languages, is in constant flux and is full of silly words. The biggest problem with homophobia and its variations is that they have become “snarl” words—words that, when used, are intended to insult and induce a negative response from listeners or readers. Such words commonly appeal to people’s emotions rather than their reasoning.

In other words, “homophobe” is used much like “racist.” Like “racist,” “homophobe” is virtually never used with honest context. Almost every time I hear or see “homophobe” (and its derivatives) used, it’s used as a snarl word. Virtually everyone—especially Christians—who speak out against the wide array of homosexual perversions are called a “homophobe” or labeled “homophobic.” This is particularly true at this time of the year.

Likewise, those who speak the truth about homosexuality—namely that homosexual behavior is a sin and nothing to celebrate—are labeled “homophobes.” Simply quoting the Bible when it comes to homosexuality often also leads to snarl-word attacks, or worse. Many nations are now putting people in jail for merely telling the truth—including quoting Scripture—on homosexuality.

Thus we see that the false idea of “homophobia” has become so ingrained in many nations—especially those corrupted by liberalism—of the world that it is illegal to be a “homophobe.” Despite the avalanche of attacks against truth-tellers on homosexuality, the simple truth is that “homophobia” is virtually non-existent. Likewise with “homophobes.”

When these abominations of the English language are used, the left is attempting—as they so often do—to shame their opponents into silence. This is because they are again on the wrong side of the truth!

The left—the Democrat Party, their media lackeys, et al—is on the wrong side of the truth on virtually every significant moral issue of our time. Whether abortion, sexual activity, sex (males/females), marriage, war, healthcare, and so on, the modern left gets it grossly wrong. Therefore, they lie repeatedly (they have to!) in order to further their agenda.

Their lying efforts often lead to a gross butchering of language. Note how difficult it is for most leftists to simply define “woman.” This perversion of thought has reached the highest levels of our culture. Leaders in our schools, corporations, legislatures, courts, executive offices, and the like, have all taken to abusing language in order to distort and deceive.

For another prominent and recent example, consider “transgender” (a close second for the title of “the dumbest word in the English language”). There is no such thing as a “transgender,” and it is impossible to change one’s sex. Nevertheless, the left persists in using this word and has even stooped to lying with pronouns to help perpetuate the “transgender” lie.

Boys and men are repeatedly referenced using female pronouns, as are women with male pronouns. CNN did this just this week as a high school boy in California again took trophies away from high school girls. Thank God lawyer Julie Hamill was having none of it! The left lies like this with a straight face and acts like were all supposed to just play along. They’re often aghast when we refuse.

We need more like Julie Hamill who will refuse to play along with the rampant linguistic lies of the modern left. This is especially true when it comes to the major moral issues.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

 

Again: “Pride” is Nothing to Celebrate

(This is a re-post of my "Pride" column from last year (2023).) 

In his seminal work Mere Christianity, the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis describes “pride” as “the Great Sin,” “the essential vice,” “the utmost evil.” Lewis concludes,

Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Thus, I suppose it is rather fitting that the “official” celebration of the evil LGBT agenda is called “Pride Month.” Few things today more encompass the wretched display of pride than what is exhibited when those under the throes of the LGBT agenda are unashamedly and boldly “out of the closet.”

Why was it—as this is typically no longer the case—that those with homosexual attractions had to come “out of the closet?” It was because to act on those attractions was often illegal, and—or at least—typically frowned upon by society at large. Why was homosexual behavior so stigmatized? Because it was once largely (and rightly) viewed as “unnatural” and immoral. 

It is important to note that things are not—or should not be—immoral because they are illegal, they are—or should be—illegal because they are immoral. And this is not to say that all immoral things should be illegal. The biggest achievement of the LGBT agenda has not been the reversal of U.S. laws that deemed homosexual behavior illegal, but rather a sea-change in the views on homosexuality in the American culture at-large. 

As was the case with all of the rotten and perverse fruit of the “sexual revolution,” this was largely accomplished by appealing to the pride of those who wanted to go their own way in the sexual realm. As C.S. Lewis noted, “pride leads to every other vice.” Homosexuality, pornography, promiscuity, and the like, are all born of the desire to ignore our Creator and write our own moral code.

It is telling that, before the LGBT agenda took root in America, pornography, promiscuity, sexually explicit displays throughout media, the “hook-up” culture, abortion (yes, abortion is a sexual issue), and so on, were being promoted and widely embraced across the U.S. Thus, no one should be surprised that once heterosexual immorality became entrenched in our culture, widespread acceptance of homosexuality would soon follow. Immorality breeds immorality.

It is also telling that, the sexual revolution that infected America flourished once those devoted to such a perverse agenda gained power. U.S. courts, politicians, academics, influential media personalities—and most tragically, even those within the church—alike all played a role in the pervasive spread of the sexual revolution. Power and pride go hand-in-hand, “For, of course, power is what Pride really enjoys,” writes Lewis. He adds,

There is nothing that makes a man feel so superior to others as being able to move them about like toy soldiers. What makes a pretty girl spread misery wherever she goes by collecting admirers? Certainly not her sexual instinct; that kind of girl is quite often sexually frigid. It is Pride. What is it that makes a political leader or a whole nation go on and on, demanding more and more? Pride again. Pride is competitive by its very nature; that is why it goes on and on.

Many were duped into believing that those promoting the LGBT agenda merely wanted to “live and let live.” However, as I’ve often noted, “live and let live” has never really been a trait of the LGBT agenda. Because of their desire to use their power to not only push their agenda, but to exact revenge upon those who stood in their way, the left’s Pride warriors have enthusiastically gone “on and on” targeting their opponents.

As Dennis Prager rightly noted, “pride is not about tolerance—it is totalitarian.” One only has to examine those targeted in the marriage debate for evidence of this. However, the “transing” of America provides most of the recent and most egregious examples of LGBT totalitarianism. (For a chronicling of these efforts, see here.) 

As I noted at the beginning of this piece, few things display the pride of humanity than unabashed displays of LGBT behavior. This is because, few things are further from the truth than the legal redefinition of marriage, and the absurd notion that one can change their sex. Again, almost nothing in the realm of truth is older than what is marriage, and what is a male and what is a female. This is because, “in the beginning” God revealed these foundational truths to us.

Of course, it is hard—if not impossible—to hear God when one is filled with pride. And if we’re not hearing God, then we are likely clueless as to what is sin. “Treason doth never prosper,” wrote English poet John Harington. He asks, “What’s the reason?” He concludes, “For if it prospers, none dare call it treason.” Likewise, sin “doth” never prosper. Why? Because if it prospers, none dare call it sin. This is where we are in America, instead of calling sin what it is, and dealing with it appropriately, we celebrate it, and misery ensues.

Again, C.S. Lewis was right:

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began…Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison— you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

The ultimate message of Pride Month is that God—if He exists at all—is a liar, and that you can do whatever you wish in the sexual realm without consequence. This is why no Christian should have any part of it. (This is especially the case when you are telling the world about The Chosen.)

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

“Pride” is Nothing to Celebrate

In his seminal work Mere Christianity, the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis describes “pride” as “the Great Sin,” “the essential vice,” “the utmost evil.” Lewis concludes,

Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Thus, I suppose it is rather fitting that the “official” celebration of the evil LGBT agenda is called “Pride Month.” Few things today more encompass the wretched display of pride than what is exhibited when those under the throes of the LGBT agenda are unashamedly and boldly “out of the closet.”

Why was it—as this is typically no longer the case—that those with homosexual attractions had to come “out of the closet?” It was because to act on those attractions was often illegal, and—or at least—typically frowned upon by society at large. Why was homosexual behavior so stigmatized? Because it was once largely (and rightly) viewed as “unnatural” and immoral. 

It is important to note that things are not—or should not be—immoral because they are illegal, they are—or should be—illegal because they are immoral. And this is not to say that all immoral things should be illegal. The biggest achievement of the LGBT agenda has not been the reversal of U.S. laws that deemed homosexual behavior illegal, but rather a sea-change in the views on homosexuality in the American culture at-large. 

As was the case with all of the rotten and perverse fruit of the “sexual revolution,” this was largely accomplished by appealing to the pride of those who wanted to go their own way in the sexual realm. As C.S. Lewis noted, “pride leads to every other vice.” Homosexuality, pornography, promiscuity, and the like, are all born of the desire to ignore our Creator and write our own moral code.

It is telling that, before the LGBT agenda took root in America, pornography, promiscuity, sexually explicit displays throughout media, the “hook-up” culture, abortion (yes, abortion is a sexual issue), and so on, were being promoted and widely embraced across the U.S. Thus, no one should be surprised that once heterosexual immorality became entrenched in our culture, widespread acceptance of homosexuality would soon follow. Immorality breeds immorality.

It is also telling that, the sexual revolution that infected America flourished once those devoted to such a perverse agenda gained power. U.S. courts, politicians, academics, influential media personalities—and most tragically, even those within the church—alike all played a role in the pervasive spread of the sexual revolution. Power and pride go hand-in-hand, “For, of course, power is what Pride really enjoys,” writes Lewis. He adds,

There is nothing that makes a man feel so superior to others as being able to move them about like toy soldiers. What makes a pretty girl spread misery wherever she goes by collecting admirers? Certainly not her sexual instinct; that kind of girl is quite often sexually frigid. It is Pride. What is it that makes a political leader or a whole nation go on and on, demanding more and more? Pride again. Pride is competitive by its very nature; that is why it goes on and on.

Many were duped into believing that those promoting the LGBT agenda merely wanted to “live and let live.” However, as I’ve often noted, “live and let live” has never really been a trait of the LGBT agenda. Because of their desire to use their power to not only push their agenda, but to exact revenge upon those who stood in their way, the left’s Pride warriors have enthusiastically gone “on and on” targeting their opponents.

As Dennis Prager rightly noted earlier this year, “pride is not about tolerance—it is totalitarian.” One only has to examine those targeted in the marriage debate for evidence of this. However, the “transing” of America provides most of the recent and most egregious examples of LGBT totalitarianism. (For a chronicling of these efforts, see here.)

As I noted at the beginning of this piece, few things display the pride of humanity than unabashed displays of LGBT behavior. This is because, few things are further from the truth than the legal redefinition of marriage, and the absurd notion that one can change their sex. Again, almost nothing in the realm of truth is older than what is marriage, and what is a male and what is a female. This is because, “in the beginning” God revealed these foundational truths to us.

Of course, it is hard—if not impossible—to hear God when one is filled with pride. And if we’re not hearing God, then we are likely clueless as to what is sin. “Treason doth never prosper,” wrote English poet John Harington. He asks, “What’s the reason?” He concludes, “For if it prospers, none dare call it treason.” Likewise, sin “doth” never prosper. Why? Because if it prospers, none dare call it sin. This is where we are in America, instead of calling sin what it is, and dealing with it appropriately, we celebrate it, and misery ensues.

Again, C.S. Lewis was right:

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began…Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison— you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

The ultimate message of Pride Month is that God—if He exists at all—is a liar, and that you can do whatever you wish in the sexual realm without consequence. This is why no Christian should have any part of it. (This is especially the case when you are telling the world about The Chosen.)

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com