Comments on: What do LGBTQ Teens Want? [UPDATE]

By: tc

tc — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:29:31 +0000

love that there are so many books for teens now where labels aren’t important. i think coming out stories are still important but i also feel that there needs to be a substantial chunk of literature out there where being gay is just like having freckles or braces- just another thing about a character that makes up a much bigger story.

By: Jay Bell

Jay Bell — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:59:12 +0000

I make a lot of YouTube videos about gay issues, and the younger viewers are the first to dismiss there being any need for a title, and say that sexuality isn’t a black and white issue.

Because of this, I think coming out should no longer be the primary theme of a gay story. I touch upon it in my YA fantasy novel, but it never takes the center stage.

By: Arla Jones

Arla Jones — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:04:17 +0000

Couldn’t agree with your more, Rachel and others. Now, let’s get some youth comments!

By: Rachel Gadd-Nelson

Rachel Gadd-Nelson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:32:41 +0000

Yay, Arla! Great to see you on this wonderful post.

However, what about getting LGBTQ young adults opinions on what they want to read? Because, really, who knows better than them what queer youth want to read?

By: Antonio Gonzalez

Antonio Gonzalez — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:46:31 +0000

@Larry Rood: We’re on the case. Thank you for pointing this out.

By: Larry Rood

Larry Rood — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:15:31 +0000

Hey guys, I just subbed via Facebook, and was immediately bounced to your Word Press Admin Page, where I certainly had no business being.

Suggest your resident techie investigate.

Larry Rood

By: Rose W.

Rose W. — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:05:47 +0000

I don’t count as a teen anymore (turning 24 this year – ye gods!), but as a bisexual woman who grew up reading SF/F (primarily F) I’d be happy to toss in my 2 cents.

What do I want to see? I want to see GLBT protagonists where no one cares that they’re gay. I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with coming out stories and I’m bored. I don’t care. They don’t apply to me – they never did. I had a loving and supportive family and so “coming out” was never that big a deal.

So give me a story filled with space travel and steam-powered engines and vampires who don’t sparkle and magic and aliens who are truly alien (eww, humans with wrinkled foreheads) and non-straight people and gender-fluid people and I will be happy. Give me a television show or movie with the same and I will be ecstatic (mm…Torchwood…). Give me some non-monogamous or kinky relationships and I’ll be bouncing off the walls with glee (but please no Jacqueline Carey – I think her writing is horrible).

Even better: Give me that story in a format I can easily use – podcast or Kindle format. I’m a pre-med. I don’t have the money to buy a physical book, and I rarely have the time to read anyhow. Give me something I can listen to during my commute and housework, and give it to me for cheap, and I’ll read it and publicize it until the world ends.

By: Antonio Gonzalez

Antonio Gonzalez — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:43:41 +0000

Couldn’t agree with you more Kelley!

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:55:34 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by MsBookish: RT @colleenlindsay: What do LGBTQ teens want to read? @MalindaLo and others weigh in: http://bit.ly/cs2TNz...

By: Cheryl's Mewsings » Blog Archive » Lamda Literary Goes Live

Cheryl's Mewsings » Blog Archive » Lamda Literary Goes Live — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:06:33 +0000

[...] Griffith is on the Board). Consequently we get a fair slice of the launch content. Malinda Lo talks to other writers about what LGBTQ teenagers want from their reading. There’s an interview with Elizabeth Bear. [...]