Saturday, June 18, 2011

Do gays really want to get married?

Do gays and lesbians really want to get married?
I ask the question because of the following I read on another blog. Anonymous asks, "Homosexual couples don’t realize how good they have it right now. They are free to live their lives as they pleas at the present. It is utterly baffling why anyone would encourage government intrusion into their lives. Lets face it, the issue of gay marriage benefits women, not men. How does that joke go? What does a lesbian bring to a first date? A suitcase. The second date? A turkey baster. Women desire long-term monogamous relationships. Men don’t. If this passes gay men in this state are about to be monumentally hosed. Remember, with gay marriage comes gay alimony!"
As the poster suggests, even among homosexuals there is a difference between men and women when it comes to sex.
On average, I would say, the main reason most men want to get married is for what they hope will be guaranteed sex. This is not to say women don't want sex. It is just to say most women want more guarantees, such as children and a father who sticks around to help raise the children.
So maybe the question should be - is the push by gays for marriage more about the legal advantages of being married, such as tax status, medical insurance and end of life decisions, than having much to do about about sex?
Let's be real. One thing shared by heterosexuals and homosexuals is engaging in promiscuous sexual activity whether married or not.
When gays and lesbians say they just want to get married because they are in love, I wonder. I wonder because I know many if not all men will tell a woman they love her for no other reason than they want sex with her. This leads me to believe using love as the reason why gays and lesbians argue for marriage equality is a bit of a red herring.
I'm not opposed to the idea. I guess what I would prefer is civil unions for all for the legal reasons. Then leave it up to the various religions and the people themselves to call it whatever they want.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Why I write about vampires


Why I write the way I write about vampires.
One of my reasons for writing my vampire stories is that too many of the vampires in the fiction of recent years have become wimpy. They are always complaining about being a vampire. They apologize for being a vampire. They look for ways to control their need for blood and look for substitutes that don't cause the death of humans.
Sure, some of them are blood thursty but these are portrayed as the "bad vampires."
When I set out to write about vampires, first with The Dancing Valkyrie, then with The Vampire Valkyrie, I wanted my vampires to be deadly without any remorse. This led me to create vampires who were essentially natural creatures who would be capable of living amongst humans both by day and by night, creatures who were not demons and were no more condemned than lions and tigers.
These ideas were long in the works and were the result of trying to understand some of the quirks of humans. We humans have a tendency to believe everything is about us. We're number one. Nothing in creation is equal in value to us. Everything here is here just for us. This attitude allows us kill and destroy anything when ever it suits our purpose and the purpose is often for our economic benefit. This attitude at its extreme allows us to view other humans, such as humans of differing races, creeds, sexs and sexual orientation as somehow less than human and thus candidates to be abused and even killed. You see this attitude played out everyday throughout the world.
These ideas with relation to vampires began for me with Dracula. I saw a disconnect in how it was okay for humans to kill vampires but it wasn't okay for vampires to kill humans. This attitude is clearly seen when it comes to humans and other natural predators. It's okay for humans to kill every other animal on earth for food or for sport but it is not okay for animals to kill other animals for food, especially not okay to compete with humans when it comes to hunting wild animals humans want to kill.
The final piece of the puzzle I found was when I came up with the idea that if in fact there were vampires, than these vampire would be flesh and blood creatures created by God - not some demon - for whatever reason God might have to create vampires. My vampires would be the ultimate predator, not bound by any human morality. I never had any problem with accepting this idea because as I look at all of creation, the most obvious thing I see is variety. Apparently, God has no liking for sameness. God is God. God is not a human. As God as said to have said to Job, "My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways." We like to say that God made us in his image and likeness when the truth of the matter is that we have made God in our own image and likeness because we are so full of ourselves.
Thus my vampires - created by God for whatever reason God might decide to create vampires. If you think vampires are too strange to exist and be created by God, then why would God have ever created dinosaurs?