Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, co-authored a study that looks at the roots of homophobia and how this attitude is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires. The study is the first to document the role that both parenting and sexual orientation play in the formation of intense and visceral fear of homosexuals, including self-reported homophobic attitudes, discriminatory bias, implicit hostility towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay policies. The study was conducted by a team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara.
