The Writers' Lounge

I'm so pleased to have provided something useful. I'll go fetch a damp towel. ;)

Seriously though, yes. Equality - the fact you have two men who, as you say, have to construct any roles they're going to assume in the course of the story - is a big part of why I prefer to write LGBT romance instead of het. It worries me that, even now, the predilection in straight romance is to often perpetuate the feminine heroine/alpha male hero thing. I understand that does it for a lot of women... but not me. It's worrying that, even if you write two women, they still have social baggage in the context of romance that men often don't. Does depend on the actual story you're writing, though - of course.

And yes... romance is worth looking at outside of the traditional Harlequin formats. As nightsfury points out, often it simply means 'has vague romantic elements in'. It is a big, complex, scary genre, but with very interesting things within it.