phobia (n.):
an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation
Those of us of a certain age, meaning my age (45) or older, can remember the gay panic and hysteria surrounding the AIDS epidemic in the late 1970s through the late 1980s. People, including the media and health professionals, legitimately believed they could catch "the gay" by merely being in the same room as a gay person. HIV was painted as a "gay's disease" and misinformation about how it was spread was pushed by media outlets, health care professionals and the government. Misinformation was even spread by the now-deified-by-the-left Dr. Anthony Fauci.
That is the origin of the word "homophobia" and that word aptly describes the way society behaved at the time. Irrational, illogical, fearful. But as it is with many words in today's English language, the meaning of "phobia" has been twisted to target those who do not agree with specific ideologies and paint them as bigots with no meaningful discourse.
Take the present cause du jour of the progressive left: transgenderism. No one believes they're going to catch "being trans" by sitting next to a transgender individual, nor does anyone believe they're going to catch some weird disease sitting next to someone dressed opposite of their presenting sex. Those who are legitimately afraid that transgender ideology is breaking apart societal norms, erasing spaces women fought hard to obtain, and leading to outcomes such as the grooming of minors have had their fears (1) confirmed (2) time (3) and (4) time (5) again (6), proving that their fears are not irrational (and thus not a "phobia").
Anyone who fails to fall in lock-step with the cause is decried a "transphobe" and has an accusatory figure pointed at them without so much as a discussion on the topic. Look no further than how JK Rowling went from a celebrated figure to the modern day equivalent of Lord Voldemort simply for saying that women deserve to have their own spaces free of the influence of men, including transitioning men who believe they're entitled to the same access as women. Ironically the arguments made by the trans rights groups -- especially trans women's groups -- are very similar, if not nearly identical, to the very same arguments made by so-called men's rights activists. Trans activism is little more than liberal-approved misogyny repackaged into a more socially palatable form.
There are those who understand that, outside of very rare genetic mutations, a human is born either male or female. Then there are those who believe they can swap between them at will and are deserving of the rights of both based solely upon their feelings. The former is reality, not a "phobia". The latter is pure delusion.
The twisting and weaponization of words such as the redefinition of "phobia" (or vaccine, or recession) is Orwellian newspeak
that has no basis in reality and serves no purpose except to misinform, mislead, or silence others.
