Z.A. Maxfield

When I was fifteen, I got a bit part on my high school’s production of Street Scene. I’m not sure what it was, I think I had to screen from behind the stage. My drama teacher got some college kid to come in to do the costuming as part of a service project. To this day, I remember his name and how he looked. I remember his smile. After the last performance, someone had a cast party. When I got there, he was leaving. Someone told me he’d been turned away at the door, even threatened, because whoever was throwing that party didn’t want “fags”in their home. The thing is, I don’t know if he was gay or not, and neither did they. Even then, I knew I didn’t want to go to ANY party that all my friends couldn’t attend. I had my parents drive me home that night.

I enjoy writing gay romance novels, but I never forget as I’m writing them, that for many of my older peers the exact same endeavor was fraught with danger. Many writers have stories of being prosecuted for obscenity, and even doing jail time for books that are, by today’s standards, fairly tame. I never forget what it costs the men and women of the LGBTQIA community to live in a world where they’re not equal.

My books are easily available, a click on a link and they wend their way to your kindles, or they’re mailed to your home. For this reason, for this day, May 17th, 2012, I’m removing the BOOK page from my website. There was a time when just owning one of my books might have put a reader in jail. There are places in the world where jail, or worse, would be a reader’s fate. I hope that  hearts and minds will continue to expand.

Practice compassion until you’re good at it. There’s another Dalai Lama quote, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

For my contest I’m offering a hardback copy of It Get’s Better, a collection of essays edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller. Email me at zamaxfield @ zamaxfield dot com (remove spaces), and I’ll announce my winner in a new post on Sunday May 20th.

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**Disclaimer: Reviewers may have received copies of books from either the author or publisher but otherwise were not paid for their reviews.