Comparing QAF to science-fiction and fantasy stories.
I have noticed that, if QAF fans participate in other fandoms, usually these fandoms are for shows/movies/books which have a science-fiction or fantasy element to them. For instance, I see QAF fans also discussing and writing stories for Harry Potter, Buffy, Supernatural, or Lord of the Rings, etc. but I don't see them discussing or writing stories for Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, or Dawson's Creek.
This leads me to believe that either SF and fantasy stories have more active fandoms or that QAF fans generally prefer SF and fantasy stories.
Either way, QAF sticks out for me because it is NOT a SF/fantasy story (sexual fantasy, yes, but no using magic to break the laws of the universe fantasy). I therefore have been thinking about how there are some aspects of SF/fantasy stories that QAF shares, even though it isn't one.
For instance, there is actually a ton of similarity between QAF and Harry Potter. The wizards and witches of HP are the gays and lesbians of QAF. The wizards call "normal" people muggles; gays and lesbians call them breeders. Liberty Avenue is like Diagon Alley. Like in HP, the QAF characters have to fight the forces of evil like Stockwell or Prop 14. Families in both stories are built upon friendship bonds rather than genetics....
So that makes me wonder: Do we, at least partly, like QAF so much because it's really a SF/fantasy story without the magic, or do we, at least partly, like SF/fantasy stories so much because they're often inherently queer?
ETA: I wasn't totally clear... these are some of the elements that QAF shares with many SF/Fantasy stories: characters being "special" in some way that they didn't necessarily choose for themselves; characters knowing something about reality that "normal" people don't get; families built on friendship bonds rather than genetic relationships; characters having to fight against a "big bad;" a very diverse group of "heroes" who end up working together because of their "specialness" or because they're united against a common enemy.