New research by U.S. psychologists suggests that 80 percent of men who are homophobic have secret homosexual feelings. These findings have prompted the gay rights group OutRage! to invite 20 prominent homophobic MPs to have their sexuality tested.

In tests by Prof. Henry E. Adams of the University of Georgia, homophobic men who said they were exlusively heterosexual were shown gay videos. Four out of five became sexually aroused by the homoerotic imagery, as recorded by a penile circumference measuring device, (a plethysmograph).

Prof. Adams's research was published as Is Homophobia associated with Homosexual Arousal? in the prestigious U.S. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, (1996, Vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 440-445).

OutRage! has written to a cross-section of 20 homophobic MPs, challenging them to take Prof. Adams's test, to dispel suggestions that their antigay voting record might be evidence of repressed homosexuality.

The MP's OutRage! has written to are:

1. Matthew Banks,
2. Henry Bellingham,
3. Rhodes Boyson,
4. Sebastian Coe,
5. Terry Dicks,
6. Nigel Evans,
7. Michael Forsyth,
8. Harry Greenway,
9. Edward Heath,
10. Michael Heseltine,
11. Peter Lilley,
12. Tony Marlow,
13. James Molyneaux,
14. Fergus Montgomery,
15. Ian Paisley,
16. John Patten,
17. Michael Portillo,
18. John Redwood,
19. Richard Shepherd,
20. and David Wilshire.

Prof. Adams says his research shows that most homophobes "demonstrate significant sexual arousal to homosexual erotic stimuli", suggesting that homophobia is a form of "latent sexuality where persons are either unaware of or deny their homosexual urges".

These findings support the theories that homophobia (fear of gayness or support for antigay discrimination) is often indicative of repressed, self-loathing, homosexual feelings; and that many homophobes subconsciously use antigay attitudes as a smoke-screen to disguise their own homosexuality.

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