I would imagine that if even one person of Rumncoke's Dad's acquaintenace were deliberately set up to be killed in combat, Dad might well never have been able to forget it. Of course, if it's true that such tactics were used against both heterosexual adulterers and suspiciously swishy individuals, there may have been more than one case. Maybe there was more talk than action about "taking care of" these purported undesirables.

I don't see any difference between "modern" homophobia and anti-gay attitudes of any earlier age. I don't think that "punishment" (whether by death or any less drastic measure) is the key element; it's more a matter of hatred resulting from exaggerated fear, distaste and/or misunderstanding.

Now, the Greek root of the suffix "phobia" means "fear" ~ not hate or punishment or prejudice or anything else. However, in common usage, the word "homophobia" has come to mean something closer to hatred and prejudice than fear. One is led to assume that all homophobic acts and attitudes, then, grow from the perpetrator's fear of homosexuality, and more specifically, fear that he himself might be gay. I'm not sure that this is always the case, but it's very likely quite often the case...