SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA

[here_inmyhead]

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

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

I read a different article about this same issue just this morning before I came on to LJ. Apparently the agent also tried to 'compromise' by saying that maybe in future sequels, if the series does well, Yuki could 'come out' as gay after the readers were already invested. Ugh. No. Just... no. Good on the authors for not caving in!

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

I remember that! Also one of the comments to the article at Genreville had this to say (bolding mine):

My first publisher (one of the Big 6) didn’t ask me to take out the gay character. My editor went through and deleted all gay references between my copyedits and the first pass pages without bothering to tell me.

I pitched a fit and my agent backed me up. The gay character stayed in the novel, as written.

Holy shit. Remind me when I finally make it to the publishing business to review what my editor does before they change anything behind my back. w.t.f.

[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!

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

That's great news! Congratulations.