Why gay romance?

A familiar scene involves me pitching my story to a willing listener (friend, acquaintance, family member). They listen, nodding their head, liking the action--then wait, a frown when they realize--"Why do you write about gay romance?"

I feel like I'm going to get this question a lot as I continue writing, so I want to puzzle this out to myself here.

Male/male romance is something I get. Like some authors passionately write about space ships, and some about elves and mythical lands, and some about magic in crafty places, this medium is my passion. There's nothing I enjoy more--nothing--than writing the dynamics between two male characters that are slowly falling in love with each other. It gives me the opportunity to completely and fully fall in love with both characters, making the romance - and hopefully the writing in that section - worlds stronger than when I write any other kind of romance.

I can say with full confidence that I love Lorin and Lex. I love all the aspects of their relationship - Lex's teasing, Lorin's nervous reactions, and the bond that I felt developing between them. When writing other romance, I never felt that bond. I can feel these two yearning in my head to be together, and every neuron in my brain wants to help them do that. The words that flow from my fingertips allow them to spend time together, and when you feel love so intensely from both sides of the relationship, the happiness you experience as the two are together simply cannot be reached by any other medium.

When Lorin and Lex are together, I feel Lorin's intense attraction and love for Lex as the man he wants to hug and cuddle forever. I also feel Lex's protectiveness and adoration of Lorin as his little vampire. This isn't a one-way street where I write from a protagonist's point of view who loves the designated love interest. Both of my protagonists overwhelm me with their feelings, and I'd swear I was the one in love myself.

So, this is why I write it. The intense connection I feel to the characters and the romance makes it so real to me, and so worth any difficulties it takes to get there. I hope that if someone reads the story they might feel even a fraction of the emotions welling up in me whenever Lorin and Lex are together. If someone else can feel this love, then it is worth it tenfold.