And for today's report of science setting out to prove cliches true, a new study has arrived that argues that the most aggressive homophobes are probably like that because of their own latent homosexual tendencies (see: Ted Haggard). "Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves," explains study author Netta Weinstein.

To come to their conclusions researchers looked at four experiments conducted in the States and Germany using 160 students each (studies which have already raised some eyebrows as it is very hard to study latent feelings).

They measured differences between what people said about their sexuality compared to how they reacted during a timed task where they had to look at words and pictures associated with being gay or straight.
Then they were quizzed on their upbringing and were invited to look at pictures of homosexual or heterosexual couples. Conscious and subconscious levels of homophobia were measured using words and images.

"In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward," another author, Richard Ryan, told Sciences Daily. "We laugh at or make fun of such blatant hypocrisy, but in a real way, these people may often themselves be victims of repression and experience exaggerated feelings of threat. Homophobia is not a laughing matter."

Of course the study isn't all a proof of something most gays already suspected, it also was a look into how parenting affects sexual identity. The core issue being that those who grow up with "autonomy-thwarting parents" therefore "may be prevented from exploring internally endorsed values and identities and as a result shut out aspects of the self perceived to be unacceptable." In other words, because their families made very clear their negative feelings about same-sex relationships, many may be especially motivated to overcompensate and lash out at gays.

So there you have it. If it makes you feel any better, the kid who called you "gay" on the schoolyard probably was just protesting too much.