Equal Rights Blog Hop 4th - 7th July

June 26th 2013

I was asked to write a blog post about what being a part of the LGBT community means to me and I'll admit, I floundered. I felt like something of a fraud to even consider myself a part of the community. I am a heterosexual woman who writes stories about gay, and bisexual, men. I have no idea how it feels to be considered different every day, to have people who don't even know me judge me and hate me on principle, or to have a government decide that I can't legally marry the person I love. I can do as much research as I like, but unless I have ever found myself in a situation that only a gay person can be in, I will never know what it truly means to be gay.

I have been writing stories about gay men for a while now, but only recently did I ever submit a book to be published. Since then my family have asked a lot of questions about my book and I have so far kept them all in the dark. I realised that I have, in a sense, been in the closet this whole time. None of my family members know what I write about. I suppose I don't want them to judge me or think of me as different, which I presume is a sliver of what a LGBT person might feel about coming out.

If the LGBT community consider me to be a part of them, then I am proud to be so. I have made the decision to 'come out' to my family, as it were. I feel nervous about it, and I feel annoyed that I should have to feel nervous. I have a pretty loving and accepting family, and although I don't think they will get why I write what I do, I think they will be supportive none the less, but even knowing that I still feel anxious.

July 1st 2013

I have now 'come out' to my entire family, and I couldn't have wished for a better response. My mum was delighted and begged me to let her read one. She's currently lying by a pool in Lanzarote getting through The Holy Trinity. My dad asked to see the cover of my book and told me he was proud of me. My grandmother interrupted me to tell me all about the underground gay clubs she used to go to in London during the fifties. I think my grandfather was a little uncomfortable and over compensated a bit to try and hide it. You know the type, the, "Some of my best friends are gay," types. I know that living in the U.K attitudes are generally more relaxed than in other places, so I'm aware that I got lucky with such a loving and supportive family.

To enter the grand prize giveaway click on the button.

Congratulations Cathy Romanczuk on winning a copy of my book, The Holy trinity. I will email it to you today.

I used a very high tech method for selecting the winner, I wrote all the names of bits of paper, closed my eyes, and grabbed one lol