Slurs aren't the only forms of homophobia that exist, though they are the most obvious I'll give you that. There's a lot of more subtle homophobia that's still exists that wouldn't really be noticed unless you're on the other side of it.
Yeah, absolutely - I'd go further and say that most prejudice occurs outside of words that are overtly prejudiced, especially in the modern day and age.
It's something that people who don't suffer minority prejudice have trouble grasping - but are getting better at accepting.
In this day and age the
average homophobe / racist etc
know that they can't socially get away with slurs - and so a new style of prejudice has emerged where the offending party thinks nothing of keeping their own views mainly hidden (as in most cases they believe that
they are the one being marginalized - by 'political correctness, and 'multi-culturalism' and 'gay agenda' etc), and it will be a more discreet and snidey form of discrimination that is experienced by the person on the other end.
Think about 'race debates' right here on Redcafe for example -
no-one ever comes out and admits that they're a racist who doesn't like 'black culture', yet the chances of that being the case, statistically are very low, and then add into the equation that the conversation is often deeply unpleasant, full of insults (yet not racist ones) and there is a clear tone of hatred and racism.
The prejudice poster know that they'll be banned and / or completely ridiculed if they actually say what they feel (a fact which fairly obviously aggravates them more-so - they can't leave the topic alone, yet can't actually communicate freely within it) so the slurs are buried, and morph into a different, more complex form of prejudice.
All this, of course, lends itself wonderfully to the current climate of divisive politics.
Not so great for the people who actually live in the society though and have to deal with the new, sleek, subtle prejudice trends.