SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA

[slumber]

Originally posted by darkspirited1 at SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA

This comes from an article by rachelmanija entitled, Say Yes to Gay YA.
(click the link for the full article)

Our novel Stranger has five viewpoint characters; one, Yuki Nakamura, is
gay and has a boyfriend. Yuki's romance, like the heterosexual ones in
the novel, involves nothing more explicit than kissing.

An agent from a major agency, one which represents a bestselling YA novel in the same genre as ours, called us.

The agent offered to sign us on the condition that we make the gay
character straight, or else remove his viewpoint and all references to
his sexual orientation.

This isn't about that specific agent; we'd gotten other rewrite requests before this one. Previous agents had also offered to take a second look if we did rewrites… including cutting the viewpoint of Yuki, the gay character.

It's time to stand up and demand change. Spread the word everywhere if you are just as angry and outraged by this.

Comments

[dulcemia.livejournal.com]

*Head throbs* The relentless, pervasive inscription of heteronormativity in every facet of society would be disgusting enough even if it didn't, Agent Dumbf***, drive children to suicide.

I'd love to see people like, e.g., JKR - who have so much power in the publishing world it's almost incomprehensible - more actively involved in shutting down this prevailing paradigm. (I'd also love to see this agency hit by an asteroid, but I'd settle for the former.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your support!

To continue to support YA fiction with LGBTQ characters, I have proposed creating Permanent Floating YA Diversity Book Clubs. (http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/976665.html) If you wish to participate, the link will explain how to begin one, join one, or simply pass on the word.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I thought you would be interested to hear that we sold Stranger (aka "the Yes Gay YA novel") to Viking. Click on this link (http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/1075926.html) for a post with more details. Thank you so much for your support!