GLBT Trap?

I have come across an interesting discussion, one that basically boils down to, why are GLBT books labelled as alternative? Surely in this day and age we can have them standing proud in their own right, not hiding behind or lumped with other genres. GLBT books should have their own category in their own right and be as mainstream as traditional romance. They sell well enough.

Yes, GLBT books have 'heat' levels, but really, that's not the same when they are lumped with other genre books. How can you compare them as a reader with a system like that? You can't. A 'hot' sci-fi tale is certainly different to a romance one.

Sure, GLBT falls under the general category of 'alternative romance' but really, reading a lot of GLBT books and being an author of them myself, a lot of them aren't all that alternative. I know I don't write porn or titilation for its own sake, in fact, someone mentioned in a review of one of my works, that the level of intensity was pretty mild when compared with some mainstream Harlequin romance novels they have read.

I don't want to write titilation stories either, but really that's what one would kind of expect when picking up a book with naked body parts all over the cover and the warning that it involes m/m romance. Why is m/m romance or f/f romance for that matter, considered to be...well, porn? How can a reader know what the book is really like when they all state: "warning, contains altrnative sex scenes that may offend some readers"? Really? Two men kissing is offensive? What if they are father and son? What if the book is about a son's battle with his sexuality and his struggle to come out to his father? Is that alternative? Should that have a warning on it, as most GLBT books do?

I like to write about characters, how they interact, and how they relate to the events happening around them. Sure, there are sex scenes, but my scenes are no more graphic or pornographic than any other romance novel. Why should my books be labelled 'alternative' just because they feature a non-traditioanl romance between the main characters. Love is love, isn't it?