Vampire Prejudice

**Originally published in The Vampire Church’s E-Zine in April 2003**

I am afraid that there is a growing rift within the Vampire Community. This rift is being caused by individuals within the community promoting and actively pushing the idea that sanguinary vampires are no more than “psychic vampires on training wheels”. Urging those of us that are sanguinary to “work hard enough and you, too, can change your feeding habits”. This is like saying a vampire bat can subsist off of fruits as a fruit bat can, simply by working hard at changing its diet.We, here at the Vampire Church, believe that vampirism is a physical condition wherein the “afflicted” person’s body either does not produce enough, or none at all, of the essential energies needed to maintain a balance of physical, mental, and emotional well-being, therefore, we must seek out these energies through alternate methods, which we do through our feedings, and just like my leukemia, another physical condition, vampirism affects each of us differently.

Not all sanguinary vampires can feed through alternate methods, and to add unwarranted stress on them by saying that you agree with the statement, or even using a statement similar to this one, that they are just ‘vampires on training wheels’ serves only to further a growing rift within our own community.

Again, just as with my leukemia, where chemotherapy did nothing but serve to nearly end my existence, my medications have enhanced my life. So it is with MANY sanguinary vampires. The blood is the life. Not the ambient energies shed by the masses, nor the energies shed by the elements, emotions or any other source of energy you wish to name.

Some of us sanguinary vampires, myself included, have been extremely lucky to be able to adapt to alternate feedings, but I will say this from personal experience… My primary feed, that which I started off with, is still, to this day, my main source of LASTING energy.

I am sorry IF you feel that sanguinary vampires are ‘psy vamps on training wheels’, ‘losers’, or any other derogatory term you would like to place here, but face it… Not all of us can learn the other methods. Just as not all of us are good in mathematics, music, art, poetry, English, nor any other ‘learned response to stimuli around us’. I might be able to learn the basics, but that does not mean that I can APPLY them, even though I can then pass them off to someone who might be able to.

And… Not to point a finger, but comments like “I do not place Sangs on the low rung of the ladder” and “you can learn to psy feed if you really practice hard enough at it” are just like those comments made that sound like “I have a lot of gay friends” or “I’m not talking about you but the gay guy over there” which I get from several people who have made derogatory comments about gays in front of me…

This is just a suggestion, but when writing a post to someone, especially if it going to be read by several other people, take the time to ensure that your words convey your thoughts without belittling someone whom, otherwise, you would be calling a friend. The only thing that truly separates us, one vampire from another, is our feeding methods, but this should not be seen as a “level of achievement”. It should instead be looked at as what it is, that vampire’s particular method of feeding. Just as people in the best of health develop differently, so we as vampires do as well. Some of us will learn and be able to adapt to different methods of feeding, and others will not, but that does not make them any less vampire, or any less valuable to the community, than others.

Written By: Belfazaar Ashantison