Whatever books you read, review them, share them, get other people to notice. Go support LGBT publishers, too! Harmony Ink Press has a pretty big selection of “ positive LGBT YA“ books, as does Prizm Books. YALSA has a fantastic guide on getting started with all kinds of different genres. So what can you do about it? Well, you can start off by buying and reading some more queer books. When interviewing tumblr users about their views on why lesbian fiction is important, Harmony Ink Press’s noted that it’s not just important because lesbians exist, but also because “ it’s hope for the future and inspiring confidence and teaching teenagers about the world and slowly but surely bringing about change.” Queer media isn’t just important for queer people it’s important for everyone. In my experience, my cishet friends read just as much as my queer friends do - and my cishet friends read queer lit! If LGBT people are expected to consume straight media without complaint, then why shouldn’t straight people be expected to consume queer media?

What those people don’t understand is that queer people consume all kinds of media that contains only straight people in it - just as much as cishet people consume it. Some people like to argue that publishing LGBT YA isn’t lucrative because cishet readers don’t want to read about queer people. Malinda Lo did some research, and after looking at the statistics, I was shocked to find that only “ 94 YA books published in 2013 include LGBT main characters or are about LGBT issues.“ Since approximately 5,000 YA titles were published in 2013, that means approximately 1 in 50 books contained an LGBT main character or involved LGBT issues. Little Black Book Of A Demisexual by Shannon TaylorĪccording to a 2011 UCLA study, about 11% of Americans admit to having experienced same-sex attraction.Being Asexual in a Sexual World by Umbrella Rain Bryony.A Perfect Solution by KC Carlton (trans protagonist).

Love In The Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block.The Island of Excess Love by Francesca Lia Block.Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.One Day Longer Than Forever by AJ Adaire.

The Deadliest Sin by Clara Miller and Donna Miller.

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman.

Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner.

Going Down in La-La Land by Andy Zeffer.

Bear, Otter, & The Kid series by TJ Klune.

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother by Amy Lane.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green, David Levithan.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

I hope this will introduce you to new books you’ll enjoy! Bolded titles will be the special favourites. This is a list of the LGBT books I’ve read/planning on reading as diverse recommendations if you’re interested.

Blindsided by Karis Walsh