I accidentally deleted the name of the person who asked me this. For that I am EXTREMELY sorry.

These kind of comments are both incredibly complimenting, and make me a bit sad. I wish that there was no reason ever to ask me why I’d have gay characters in my books because they were reflected everywhere, and them being in my books wasn’t notable. I don’t think I did anything special by writing GBLQ characters — I just wanted to.

I have so many gay and lesbian and bisexual friends. My best friend is bisexual. My critique group has three queer members. My mother’s best friend, who I’m named after, is gay, as is my sister-in-law. When worlds and characters construct themselves in my mind, they have gay people in them. 

A lot of my readers ask where all the gay characters are in books. They are out there —! and the best thing you can do to encourage there being more of them is buy and read books that feature them. That will show there is a market, and people excited and happy to read those stories. Here’s a good starting point to find them:

YA Books with major gay, lesbian, transgendered and questioning characters.