WINNERS ANNOUNCED! SEE LAST COMMENT! Hop Against Homophobia/Transphobia-Why People Are Really Just People (WIN a FREE BOOK)

Hi! If this is your first time visiting my blog site, welcome! You are probably here because of the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia. I know you have a lot of blogs to visit, so today just relax, read my post, and sign up for a chance to win a couple of FREE BOOKS.

I do hope you come back soon and search the archives. You'll find I blog about many things: men, women, life, love, art, writing. and rights of others. I could use more followers and would love it if more people responded to my posts. It makes it a lot of fun when you do.

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is May 17th,  Here is the link to that organization: http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/

I'm participating in this event for a couple of reasons. First of all, even though I'm an older straight, married woman, I've always been keenly aware of the struggles others have to obtain basic human rights. Perhaps that's because I was a child of the '60s. I saw how women protested for THEIR rights and —being female—it was important to me even as a child and young teen. How could men feel they were superior to women simply because of their gender? It puzzled me that any human would want to make another human "less than" simply to make themselves more powerful.

As I left high school in small town America and moved to a large city, I "grew" a lot of friends over the years. Many of those friends happened to be gay or lesbian. It once again seemed odd to me when people would make hateful or snide comments about them simply because of their gender preference when it came to intimate relationships. I watched their struggles and pain. The Twin Cities of Minnesota is one of the more progressive places when it comes to human rights, but this fight was brutal at times. I am ashamed to be part of the human race when I see how my gay and lesbian friends are treated by some of the bigots who think they have the right to deny others their equality.

I'm also an author. I had completed three of the five books in The Gastien Series before I realized that each book at had least one character that was either gay or lesbian. Once I knew it, I simply smiled. This historical drama is also a family saga. All families have LGBT members, even if those members have felt the need to hide their true identity from the rest of the family. And, all of society has LGBT members. It only made sense to me to continue this in the novels I write. I made a commitment to include at least one LGBT character in each work. The last book of this series is gay historical drama and romance, the fourth book is half gay historical drama, and the first three, as I mentioned, have side characters that represent different colors of the rainbow.

I write novels about the sublime joy and bitter tragedy of being human. Humanity in ALL of its glory and ugliness. There is plenty of both, no matter what gender preference you have.

I recently talked to a friend who works in human resources. A co-worker of hers happens to be gay. A very femme gay. She shared with me a few months ago that their supervisor sat him down and told him that he was ineffective at his job. Why? Because he's gay! She said women thought of him as "just one of the girls" and couldn't take him seriously. Really? Many of the others in his position ARE female. Wouldn't they also not be taken seriously then? What about her?

The good news? That supervisor has lost her job. Finished. Over. See Ya. And no reference letter. Too bad, so sad. It wasn't just because of this one man. It was a culmination of many biases and prejudices she had. In this day and age we need to see ALL of these dinosaurs made extinct in the work force. I don't care if they are 60 or 20 years old!

What have I learned from my LGBT friends about lifestyle? Well, I've learned more about pain and suffering; more about low self-esteem and alienation. But those aren't lifestyles. As far as lifestyle goes, I've learned that it doesn't matter who you prefer to love, your lifestyle follows pretty much the same pattern. We all spend a lot of hours working. We all take out the trash, mow the lawn, write out bills, dream about making love a whole hell of a lot more than we actually do it, and—for the most part—try to be decent human beings. Who we love after doing all of that makes zero difference. And, frankly, with the pace of life today. all of us are lucky if we have the energy for a quick kiss and "I love you" before drifting off to sleep. The bigots really don't have to worry about big sex orgies happening next door. I don't have the energy as a straight woman, and my LGBT friends are in the same boat.

I guess people really ARE more alike than they are different.

And now for a chance to win that prize I promised. I am writing a saga about 6 teenagers who are victims of sex trafficking. It is a story about revenge and redemption. There are five girls and one boy. The gay boy (who arrives late in the first book, dumped at the brothel by his homophobic father) shares main character status with one of the girls. He will be a major part of destroying the man who bought them, along with his house of ill repute. The story is not pretty, but it is current. Sex trafficking is a big problem in every country today. Gritty, raw, and emotional, if you like psychological suspense, you will like this story.

To be entered in the drawing, please comment about why you want to read this saga. The THREE WINNERS will get e-books of the FIRST TWO BOOKS in the There Was a House Saga: House of Pleasure and House of Pain.  If you would also become a member of my blog, I would greatly appreciate it! 

This contest ends midnight PST May 27th 2014. 

The winner will be posted after the 27th, no later than the 29th. I WILL POST THE WINNERS WITHIN 48 HOURS AFTER THAT. IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO LEAVE AN EMAIL, YOU MUST CHECK BACK AND EMAIL ME WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU ARE THE WINNER, OR YOU WON'T RECEIVE YOUR PRIZE. THANK YOU!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you here again soon. Let's get to know each other by you commenting about my thoughts and vice-versa.

Here is a link to continue on to other blog post for this hop:

Caddy Rowland is a novelist and painter. Her social media links follow.

To find out about her novels visit http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005FW8BZE

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Author Blog: www.caddyrowlandblog.blogspot.com

Author Email: caddyauthor@gmail.com

Twitter: @caddyorpims