Seriously though, reading about the relationship between Louis and Armand forced me to evaluate my preconceptions about homosexuality, and figure out how to be okay with it if I were going to continue liking those characters. So, I think that it did have an impact and started me along the path to growth and acceptance.
Similarly I grew up Catholic and watching my friends come out and deal with all the shit they had to deal with turned me into an extremist for acceptance and started me down the path to atheism and eventual straight up antireligionism.
Yeah, right around that time of my life my mom made friends with a gay man. He was a black belt in juijitsu, masculine, and really fun to be around. He taught me a lot of juijitsu moves, and spent time hanging out with me. He broke even more preconceptions for me, and exposed me to something in reality that I had only been exposed to in concept before. That was the first time in my life that I realized gay people are just people, the same as everyone else, not these moral deviants I had been taught that they were. It still took me several more years to completely overcome the bigotry I was taught, but it did happen.
I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian household and I loved Interview with the Vampire, and The Vampire Lestat novels in junior highschool.
You still a fundie?
Not since after junior highschool. I guess Anne Rice, and her gay vampire novels ruined me. ;)
It’s not your fault, they’re irresistible.
Seriously though, reading about the relationship between Louis and Armand forced me to evaluate my preconceptions about homosexuality, and figure out how to be okay with it if I were going to continue liking those characters. So, I think that it did have an impact and started me along the path to growth and acceptance.
Similarly I grew up Catholic and watching my friends come out and deal with all the shit they had to deal with turned me into an extremist for acceptance and started me down the path to atheism and eventual straight up antireligionism.
Yeah, right around that time of my life my mom made friends with a gay man. He was a black belt in juijitsu, masculine, and really fun to be around. He taught me a lot of juijitsu moves, and spent time hanging out with me. He broke even more preconceptions for me, and exposed me to something in reality that I had only been exposed to in concept before. That was the first time in my life that I realized gay people are just people, the same as everyone else, not these moral deviants I had been taught that they were. It still took me several more years to completely overcome the bigotry I was taught, but it did happen.
If Anne Rice doesn’t get you, True Blood will