Gay in YA

There's a bit of a controversy going on right now about the role of gay characters and gay relationships in YA fiction.

http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=1519

http://www.dystel.com/2011/09/de-gaying-ya/

Personally, I'm comfortable with gay characters and gay relationships portrayed the same way straight YA characters and relationships are. But I also can see why agents and publishers might think it could hurt sales in the heartland. And I like the idea that it's out there, available, for people who DO want to read stories with gay characters. People are free to write what they want without fear of being censored or persecuted. And people are free to NOT read it, as well.

Many years ago, I did a fundraiser for Lambda Legal (a nonprofit that provides legal protections to members of the GLBT community). I got the most vitriolic, nasty, and poorly spelled hate mail I have ever seen.

So I think it comes down to this: the people who would be most offended these days may well be the least likely to be reading books in the first place.

What do you think?

A Sinister Homo Sapien Who Masticates Every Day

There's a line in MINDER in which a couple of ignorant guys sexually harass my MC, and she threatens to mess with their brains and make them fall in love with each other. It's been nibbling away at my conscience for a while. My MC isn't homophobic, although the guys bothering her are. So it's an effective deterrent in the situation, particularly since the harassment is heterosexual.

But would it be OK to treat other characteristics like that? Wouldn't it be horribly inappropriate to threaten to change the race of white rednecks, assuming such a thing was possible? It's like validating their belief that OTHER = BAD.

Sexual orientation's a divisive topic in American culture, and it needs especially careful handling in the YA genre. Some books and series make it a major component of the story, such as THE GEOGRAPHY CLUB and the MARKED series. In MARKED, some of the MC's best friends are a gay, teenage, vampire couple.

Try to find THAT box on the census form.

So I'm torn. The scene works, but I'm concerned with the greater message it sends. As it stands now, I may alienate liberal readers (e.g., MARKED fans). If I swing too far the other way, I may alienate more conservative readers (e.g., TWILIGHT fans). And I want both groups to give me money to enjoy my books.

I have another character who happens to be gay, but I haven't developed this aspect of her identity, since it's irrelevant to the plot of the first books. I'm worried that, when I finally address it, it'll seem like tokenism, like Apache Chief, whose superpower was "being Native American," apparently.


So, now I heave a trepidacious sigh and throw the question open to comments. How should sexual orientation be handled in YA fiction? I'm a little afraid to see what people will write--a few years ago, I sold purple-ribbon lapel pins in support of legalizing gay marriage, and I received several emails telling me I was going to burn in Hell.

Oh, and as for the title of today's post:
Sinister=left-handed (in Latin)
Homo sapien=human
Masticates=chews. Why? What did YOU think it meant?