Alan Ball, the out Oscar-winning writer of American Beauty and the creator of Six Feet Under, takes on the world of vampires in the new HBO series, True Blood.

by Lesley Goldberg

An Oscar winner for American Beauty, and the creator of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball is turning the page to adapting for television. His new HBO series, True Blood, debuted Sept. 7 and is an adaption of Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire young adult series. With vampires having come out of the coffin and fighting for equal rights, the gay undertones in the series serve as quite a metaphor for the queer community. Ball took a moment to discuss the show’s appeal to the gay community.

Were the gay undertones in True Blood intentional?

Well, that’s a question to ask Charlaine Harris, who wrote the books. I mean, it certainly is very, very easy to read that into it. Sometimes I feel like it’s almost too easy. In any case, it’s not a show about gays and lesbians struggling to make it in society; that’s sort of the window dressing of the show. But the show is just about the characters. We do have gay characters.

Considering that the books were written for young adults, was Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) gay in the books?

Yes he was. And there are upcoming vampires who are gay, and there are many gay vampires in Charlaine’s books. The vampire hierarchy in the book is each state has a king or a queen, and sometimes they have alliances—they get married—and one of the books is built all around the marriage of the king of Texas to the king of Louisiana.

What else can viewers expect to see from the gay vampires on the show?

We have a handful of gay vampires that make their appearance this season. I don’t want to give anything away, but some are good and some are bad. And there’s Lafayette. ... He’s great. He has many sources of income. He considers himself an entrepreneur. He has a website that has fans all over the country, and he also is, let’s just say a private entertainer, who may or may not get mixed up with a Republican politician down the road.

Speaking of Republicans, since it’s an election year, do you see True Blood as a window to providing votes with a glimpse of some of the discrimination that still exists in the gay community?

I personally don’t think anybody needs a window; they just need to keep their eyes open. But yes, it certainly can be interpreted that way. But actual, real gay discrimination is going on all around us. I think it’s a very, very important election and I myself just saw something on TV about the Log Cabin Republicans and their endorsement of [John] McCain and I just don’t understand how that happens; what’s going on in those guys’ minds?

Are you worried about any sort of anti-gay backlash to the show or about it being misconstrued?

No, I don’t worry about how people respond to things. I think the right-wing homophobes are way outnumbered by the vampire and genre fans, so I don’t think, even if they do decide to protest it or boycott it, it will have any impact whatsoever. I would say to them, “You know what, if you don’t like it, just don’t watch it. Stop trying to control what everybody else watches, freaks.”

What else can we look forward to in terms of other gay story lines within the show?

Aside from the first season, we haven’t gotten together to work on the second season. I do know that at some point, when Sookie (Anna Paquin) is attacked and beaten up, she gets taken to the house of the king of Mississippi and he’s just a party gay vampire with a house full of beautiful boys, and she gets taken in there on the verge of death and some sort of supernatural somebody heals her, but that’s seasons down the road. But we definitely have Lafayette to look forward to. His life is very colorful and will continue to be very colorful.

So there will be a Season 2?

They [HBO] have not formally announced it; but we are scheduling and looking for studio space, so unless something really strange happens, I’m assuming there’s going to be a Season 2. But they have not formally admitted to it yet.

True Blood airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m.