Abstract: Objective To investigate the attitudes toward homosexuality and its association with empathy among nurse students. Methods Totally 410 nurse stuednts were assessed with self-administered Attitudes toward Homosexuality Questionnaire(ATHQ)and Interpersonal Reactivity Index-Chinese Version(IRI-C)for their attitudes toward homosexuality and empathy. Results Compared with the nurses in Taiwan,the students showed significantly higher scores in ATHQ (P<0.001).Compared with urban students,rural students showed significantly higher scores in ATHQ and IRI-C (P<0.05,P<0.001)and the rural students also showed significantly higher scores in condemnation/tolerance,empathy concern and personal distress(P<0.05,P<0.001).There was a significant correlation between fantasy and the attitude toward homosexuality. Conclusion The nurse students had negative attitude toward homosexuality and the attitude was related to the fantasy score of IRI-C.Also there was a significant difference in attitude toward homosexuality and empathy between urban and rural students.