Homophobia directly leads to attacks on gay people, should the homophobic person be so inclined.

I think its worth to acknowledge that this statement is not absolute truth but an estimation based on average reported instances.

For all we know we could have a way bigger population of homophobes that we don't know about simply because they didn't report or get reported. Could be they haven't been caught or just that they don't act on it. And TBH if they don't act on it shouldn't they be allowed to have their opinions and be able to express them amongst themselves? I'm not saying sympathize with racists but acknowledge that in a way there are many communities that can be taken the same way. Loli-lover? Pedophile. Anime weeb? Degenerative. Gun enthusiasts? Fascist/Nationalist. Etc.

Now I'm not saying these labels are exact but they do illustrate the point that any community can be ostracized and villainized. Thus its important to tolerate all communities with a few ground rules.

Simply put, there will always be someone who disagrees with any community. The methods we use to silence said communities can also be used against us. Thus we must express tolerance except towards the individuals who act directly to harm others, meaning we must not punish the community as a whole for the actions of the individual.