† homophilen.1
Obsolete. rare.
A person who supports the rights of human beings, esp. as opposed to animals, or asserts the prime importance of humankind.In quot. 1888 as a humorous pseudonym.In quot. 1897: spec. a supporter of vivisection; cf. zoophile n. 1.
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1888 Let. 18 Sept. in Dundee Courier & Argus 19 Sept. These unconscionable croakers who vent their spleen in the newspapers over trifles ought to be immured in a box, protected from the touch of their fellows by iron bars... Yours, &c., Homophile.
1897 P. A. Fish in Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc. 1896 18 143 For our present purpose let such persons be classified as Zoophiles—antivivisectionists—and the vivisectionists as Homophiles.
1917 New Country Life Feb. 66/2 Will some enthusiastic homophile claim it as merely another proof that Nature's fundamental aim is to conserve..those forms of plant and animal life for which her favorite, Man, has need?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
homophilen.2adj.
/ˈhəʊməfʌɪl/, /ˈhɒməfʌɪl/, U.S. /ˈhoʊməˌfaɪl/ A. n.2
1. A homosexual person (now somewhat dated in general use); spec. (chiefly with historical reference) a member or supporter of the homophile movement (see homophile movement n. at Compounds). Cf. homophilia n. 1.Homophile is sometimes used, both as a noun and an adjective, in conscious distinction to homosexual for the reason that its etymology emphasizes romantic rather than sexual attraction to people of one's own sex. This use is now relatively rare outside historical references to the first phase of the gay rights movement, from its emergence after the Second World War until the late 1960s, though homophile is still sometimes used in preference to homosexual in some Christian contexts.
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the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > homosexuality > [noun] > a homosexual person
urning1883
invert1892
homosexual1894
Uranist1895
homosexualist1898
Uranian1908
intersexualc1910
homoerotic1915
homo1923
one of those1927
freak1941
homophile1945
gay1953
consenting adult1957
minty1957
lesbigays1992
1945 H. Gerber Let. 23 Oct. in J. N. Katz Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983) 564 Homophiles want no pity from the heterophiles, but the equal right to enjoy birth control according to their own methods.
1956 Mattachine Rev. Apr. 35/2 Homophiles should not be afraid of society.
1974 L. C. Pogrebin in M. Tripp Woman in Year 2000 i. 23 All the gay people in the American parliament came out and all the homophiles in the church came out.
1979 B. D. Adam in M. P. Levine Gay Men 292 The 1970 NACHO convention dissolved in a confrontation between gay liberationists and homophiles.
1991 Issues in Human Sexuality (General Synod Church of Eng.) iv. 35 For both heterophile and homophile the genital organs are the key to a full physical expression of love.
2016 Merinews (India) (Nexis) 2 Feb. Immediately after the Second World War, a number of homosexual rights groups came into being... These groups usually preferred the term homophile to ‘homosexual’, emphasizing love over sex.
2. A person who is sympathetic or well-disposed towards homosexual people, or supportive of their rights and interests.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 1.
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1979 W. Friedkin in N.Y. Mag. 13 Aug. 49/2 There was a great one with the caption ‘Why most gay crime goes unsolved,’ and standing in a police lineup were five men with mustaches who all looked alike. That's very funny, but if I used it..in my film, I'd become ‘the noted homophobe’. Or ‘homophile’.
1993 E. R. Annis Code Blue viii. 162 I am not a homophobe. As a physician I subscribe to the philosophy that all people must be treated as individuals..: Physicians are homophiles.
2003 Times (Nexis) 12 July (Home News section) 6 Liberals fear he [sc. Dr Rowan Williams] will not now be able to resist the conservative agenda, even though he is a liberal homophile.
B. adj.
1. Homosexual (now somewhat dated in general use); spec. (chiefly with historical reference) of, relating to, belonging to, or supporting the homophile movement (see homophile movement n. at Compounds). For information on the use of homophile in conscious distinction to homosexual, see the note at A. 1.
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1954 Brit. Jrnl. Delinquency 5 5 We may..dismiss as a product of fearful imagination the existence of a mysterious homophile secret society.
1963 ‘D. W. Cory’ & J. P. Le Roy Homosexual & his Society xx. 245 The great bulk of publicity about the existence of homophile organizations—as they are usually called, somewhat euphemistically—has been, of necessity, by word of mouth.
1973 C. Wittman in P. Brown Radical Psychol. xix. 459 There is a tendency among ‘homophile’ groups to deplore gays who play visible roles—the queens and the nellies.
1991 Issues in Human Sexuality (General Synod Church of Eng.) iv. 31 It would be out of place here to attempt a full account of the complex debate on the causes of homophile orientation.
2002 R. Goldstein Attack Queers i. 11 We've also been drawn to the belief that gay people are just like straights ‘except for what we do in bed’, as the old homophile saying goes.
2. Sympathetic or well-disposed towards homosexual people, or supportive of their rights and interests.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense B. 1.
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1997 A. Grey Speaking Out 237 Then, it was possible to discuss the issue [sc. homosexuality] with most religious bodies and audiences on a safely distanced ‘them’ and ‘us’ basis... But nowadays it is a much more parti pris battle between opposing homophile and homophobic factions.
2006 M. M. Gallo Different Daughters v. 80 A star attraction..was Saturday morning's panel on ‘Religion and Mental Health’, moderated by the pioneering homophile psychologist and researcher Dr. Evelyn Hooker.
2014 M. A. Penrose Masculinity & Queer Desire in Spanish Enlightenm. Lit. 18 Classical Greece, a homophile society to be sure.
Compounds
homophile movement n. now historical (with the) the gay rights movement; spec. (chiefly with historical reference) the first phase of this movement, from its emergence after the Second World War until the late 1960s (see note).During the first phase of the gay rights movement many homosexual people wished to become more integrated into society and founded numerous groups, publications, etc., which sought to overturn the perception of them as nonconformist outsiders. Many also preferred to refer to themselves as homophiles rather than homosexuals because they wanted to place more emphasis on homosexuality as a romantic attraction to people of one's own sex and less on it as a sexual attraction (see note at sense A. 1). The emergence of the gay liberation movement in 1969 saw the largely integrationist approach of the preceding decades eschewed in favour of more radical activism.
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1958 Ladder (Daughters of Bilitis) Oct. 5 It is now a pretty well established fact that the best way to draw the lesbian into the homophile movement..is through an exclusively women's organization.
1972 Motive 32 No. 1. 45 For through the struggles between the men and the women, the conservatives and the Gay Liberationists at a conference this week, I have been forced to the realization that I have no brothers in the homophile movement.
2014 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 16 Feb. 10 The early gay-rights movement was called the homophile movement because its founders..did not want to be identified as exclusively sexual beings.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11888
n.2adj.1945