I was writing about vampires before the AIDS crisis. People told me Interview with the Vampire was a gay allegory, and I was very honored by that. [Rice’s son, Christopher, is openly gay.] I think I have a gay sensibility and I feel like I’m gay, because I’ve always transcended gender, and I’ve always seen love as transcending gender. In my books, I’ve always created bonds of love that have transcended gender. But I’ve never associated AIDS with vampires, myself.
I’ve always been very much a champion of gay rights, and art produced by gay people—whether it was the early Frankenstein movies that had such a gay sensibility to them, or any art created by gay people. I’m highly sensitive to it. I have a gay sensibility. I get teased a lot by my gay friends because we have a rapport on things we find exciting or interesting. It’s very hard for me to remember that I have a gender, and that they’re treating me in a negative way because of that gender.”— Anne Rice, talking to The Daily Beast about her life philosophy and new novel, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
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Amalgamate
Youre not gay, lady. And your son isn’t a good writer-he was only published because of you.
charlie_jackpot
What’s that quote from Sex and the City? ‘Sweetheart, that’s all very nice, but if you’re not going to eat pussy, you’re not a dyke’
Heywood Jablowme
Also she looks damn good for her age (75). Maybe avoiding straight men keeps one looking young?
Ryan Field
I only know that Anne Rice gave me…a gay kid who loved to read…something gay to read at a time when gay wasn’t chic, it wasn’t the most popular thing to do, and all other mainstream fiction writers ignored it…even those fiction writers who were gay. As far as I’m concerned, she’s earned her right to feel as if she’s gay.
Kangol
@Amalgamate: Thank you. Look, I appreciate her strong affinities with and for gay men. But she ain’t a gay man. And I have tried to like her son’s work, but it isn’t very good. Maybe she could give him a few more pointers.
Jack Meoff
I read several of her books while travelling around America for a couple of months as a young 22 year old on a journey of exploration and excess. I travelled up one coast and down the other with some stops in between having the best time and will always remember my adventures and her novels being a part of that.
Billy Budd
I read part of “Interview with The Vampire” and even though I don’t think it is top-quality literature, I must admit that it is FILLED with gay subtext. And that is good.
DarkZephyr
@Amalgamate: well I happen to like that she identifies with us.