It’s important to remember that the person suffering from HOCD is no more or less homophobic than anyone else, but that the underlying fear of being or becoming another orientation is really a fear of losing one’s identity and living an inauthentic life of deception. In fact, it might appear offensive to some even putting such fears in the same category, given that one orientation or another is not intrinsically harmful. A person historically attracted to the same sex could absolutely have an obsession about being attracted to the opposite sex or a fear of being in denial of their heterosexuality.
Having stated that, let me address two important points:
I will also predominantly use the shorthand of “HOCD” (formerly referred to as homosexual OCD) only because of its familiarity in online OCD communities. This is the more common presentation, so I will generally reference “gay fears” as shorthand for fears of being an orientation other than one’s own. In this blog series, I will predominantly be referring to the experience of self-identified heterosexuals with intrusive unwanted fears of being homosexual.
