The biggest cause of male heterosexual homophobes is that when they see image like this they begin to fantasize about being the dominant male figure in the scene. So in this instance many of the Freepers for example see themselves as the man holding up the smaller Marine. This is due in large part for the natural tendency of homosexual behavior in the species. Meaning of course that many homophobes are actually latent homosexuals themselves. But fantasizing oneself in what we see is not normal behavior either which could point to an over-sexualized state to begin with. Which itself could point to bisexuality. Many things to ponder of course. Could be that homophobia is in itself a sort of sexual response. Sort of like the “American Beauty” effect.