Personally I always assumed it is not about fear at all. Ask any bigoted moron and they won't say they are afraid of gay people and I believe them. I think it c

Personally I always assumed it is not about fear at all. Ask any bigoted moron and they won't say they are afraid of gay people and I believe them. I think it could be a few things. One possibility is that the person believes in a certain social hierarchy and is trying to enforce it (e.g. they believe gay people should be lower on the hierarchy than them and feel justified in letting them know it). Another alternative is someone who feels bad is trying to displace their own negative emotions and picking the easiest targets because they feel they are low in the hierarchy themselves. Probably there is also some merit to parents wanting grandkids and being upset if their child is gay. Another possibility is religious motivations - deeply religious people may worry their gay relative won't be accepted in to heaven or something like that.