'True Blood' is So Gay!

The blood-curdlingly hot and steamy HBO series True Blood has graced our television screens for nearly  two full seasons now. For those of you who have not seen the show, here is a little background: It’s set in present time, in the small [bordering on red-neck] town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. It’s pretty much your average southern small town, everyone in each other’s business and secrets that keep the town buzzing constantly. There’s only one small difference: vampires live there too. That’s right. Apparently those pesky vamps had been living among the living without the common folk knowing. The series begins however, with the aftermath of them deciding to “come out of the coffin.” But that’s certainly not the only thing about this show that seems gay. And it doesn't hurt that the show's creator, who also created American Beauty and Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, is gay.

It’s my understanding that it’s fairly common knowledge that vampires are notorious for being attracted to both sexes. They do not discriminate genders when it comes to the act of sex, nor do they hold a preference themselves. Put simply: they don’t really mind who they’re doing it with, because let’s face it: they’ll probably kill them afterwards anyway. True Blood depicts this aspect of vampire life quite clearly. It is not uncommon to see a scary pale vampire make advances toward an unsuspecting human of the same sex. According to the books on which the show is based, Pam—owner of the local vamp bar-- seems to have an affinity towards women, but does not discriminate against the males either.

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And according to our very own SheWired news posts, Evan Rachel Wood will be starring as the first openly lesbian vampire character on the series.

The fact that the vampires are discriminated against and mostly deemed socially unacceptable to the rest of society is an open metaphor for homosexuality –- among a multitude of other things as well. The show’s basic plot line has drawn comparisons to the Civil Rights Movement, Christianity and all other persecuted religions -- and the AIDS epidemic. Vampires are looked down upon, and looked at with disgust.

Humans who are seen fraternizing or having relations with vampires are equally frowned upon and openly discriminated against as well. In fact, humans who have sexual relations with vampires are referred to as “fangbangers” and humans who have no problems with them are called “sympathizers.”

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There are clubs, such as Fangtasia, which are made for vampires and run by vampires and open to all members of the public interested in the undead lifestyle as well.

Not only are the humans discriminatory against the vampires, the vampires are discriminatory against each other. If a vampire is known to associate with humans, they are looked upon as weak and a disgrace to their kind, and those that are involved in bi-species relationships are often banished from the groups in their community. The show gets its title from the synthetic Japanese faux-blood called TruBlood, which is regularly sold in bars and markets to satiate vampires’ hunger so to keep them from killing humans. Most vampires with a hearty healthy appetite however, claim that it’s a disgusting imitation and that those who do drink it regularly are an embarrassment to their kind. In many scenes, you can spot news shows that resemble our current politically-fuelled stations in which a split screen shows someone from a religious sect heatedly debating with a vampire from a Vampire Defense League of some sort.

Much like the gay community, the vampire community tends to stick together as much as possible. Perhaps it is for fear of persecution or maybe it’s because they feel more comfortable with those of their own kind. This goes for all other groups who have been persecuted as well -- when a group is targeted and put under judgment and scrutiny, sticking together and staying with those who share similar interests with you seems like the only option in the world. However, when a gay person comes out of the closet, they certainly do not wish to lose their straight friends. And when a vampire comes out of the coffin, they do not want to leave the human life they led behind. But just as the gay community has been lucky enough to discover, True Blood’s vampires also have found that there are vast numbers of people who may not be like them, but certainly do not have a problem with people with fangs.