I know this has been previously said, but it's all about how you write it. With protests being alive and active about all kinds of things nowadays if you wrote a childrens' book with the mc homosexual some idiotic homophobic parent would send numerous angry letters but whatever, they can go fall into some quick sand. And then again, if you write it badly you'll get both homosexuals and homophobes angrily trying to do ... something due to the former not wanting children homophobes and the latter wanting all homosexuals to burn in hells or something along those lines. Basically just have a go. If it comes out well after a few rewrites then by all means ask some people to read it and help you then if everyone is happy (both possible protesters to read and review you can't go too far wrong) then by all means let the public see it. Society has to advance away from discriminative povs and children are today's tomorrow after all.
Then I suppose I would be looked at as a narrow-minded oaf if I said that I don't believe in 'sex education' in schools. It's a personal thing, and one should learn about it from one's parents, not a public school system. It is a bit smothering when I have to walk on eggshells in order to not outright say, "I think homosexuality is morally vapid and disgusting," but the apposing viewpoint can come right out and say, "You people are stupid and homosexuality is fine." Oh, well, I stick by my guns; I really don't see how a children book is going to have homosexuality involved in it, but if it does, have at it; but I wonder how many people would purchase the book, even if you got it published. (With all of the people FOR homosexuality, it would be very intriguing to see)
I can't speak much for children's books, but I can for YA. If there is a character who is homosexual in a YA book, it affects every facet of their life. Have they come out? Do their parents support or not? I recently read a book called Poison Ink, it was a YA novel where a supporting character was a lesbian. It was important to note that because it explained why her father seemed to hate her. YA novels are all about teenagers being the ONLY PERSON THIS HAS EVER HAPPENED TO OMG MY LIFE IS SO HORRIBLE NO ONE ELSE HAS BEEN THROUGH IT AND YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. If a heterosexual love triangle, a book about a girl who likes a boy who likes another girl who is friends with the first girl's arch enemy makes for a good plot, why not any of the other things that plague a young adult's mind? School, cliques, boyfriends and girlfriends, getting a license, gangs, drugs, sex....that's what REAL teenagers are dealing with in their daily lives. And it follows that what a teenager wants to read about is a protagonist that's just like them. Whether or not YOU like it, teenagers are discovering they have all sorts of sexual natures, and a teenager in that situation would want to read a protagonist with a similar life. Those that don't face their own homosexuality could due to read books about homosexuals that are just like their classmates, too. Anything to teach tolerance in high school, right? Or should we end up with more and more gay-bashing and beatings because a kid was brave enough to come out to his peers?
The people who bash and beat a person because he is a homosexual is no better than the one he thinks he has the right to hurt. I have nothing against homosexuals, just homosexuality, itself. Just like people who smoke, gamble, or lie. I still love the person, just not the act. So I agree that it could be relieving for a homosexual to read a book with other people who have gone through similar plights. We can't really argue this point because our views are so incredibly different, though. I don't consider it just a 'thing' that 'happens' and is 'perfectly normal'. I don't consider it, at all, a perfectly wholesome thing that no one ever TRIES to get into. The only thing I agree with is that it isn't always a choice, but to go into further details with that would be. . . pugnacious, at best. I am glad that we can resolve this without metaphorical bloodshed.
Actually, you've kinda hit the nail on the head. My whole point was that whatever mine and your beliefs are, if a teenager believes differently, they're going to want to read a book about someone like them. And if a teenager believes similarly, it would be better to teach them that people who oppose their viewpoint are people too, so that one day they can be as tolerant and as "love the sinner hate the sin" as you appear to be. And you're right. This is the first mature discussion about the matter I've ever seen online
Yes, I agree fully. I have to say, a heavy weight has been lifted off of my OWN heart, knowing that you have not responded offensively or aggressively. I will be glad to see your future responses on different threads, knowing that you are of a temperate and friendly disposition.
Proper grammar keeps the vayda-rabbit in a happy mood I think that's true for most people, that's why you never see good discussions, people get frustrated trying to read walls of text with no commas or capitalization
I think it is important not to take certain matters personally. Maybe a book with a central gay character is not to our own taste, but as you put it so well, it's good to have some books treating issues like homosexuality in a sensitive way eg for teenagers who are questioning their sexuality. I really dislike novels with a gay character who is there as a kind of colourful clown. It just seems to be following a trend. My children do not usually come into contact with many people who are overly gay, and when they were younger I didn't buy them books which I thought were harmful to them. But homosexuality DOES exist, and my kids have always known about it (this is what I meant by homosexuality being a normal part of life). I'm not going to edit every contentious subject out of their lives. If there's a book that approach the subject in a rational and sensitive way, I see no harm now they're over the age of ten.
If you haven't finished your book you should go ahead and finish that first and get it edited before you send out letters to agents and publishers. Considering the controversial subject of your MC for a children's book., I don't think it's impossible to publish, but very hard to because when the main public deals with the sexuality of children, they are very protective of it. I never heard of really any children's books with it, but the few that are out there probably don't tend to do as well as the others because of the controversy.
However, you do still seem to have a hard time believing that homosexuality in children's books is possible. I just checked my library's website. Under the subject heading "Children of gay parents" in Juvinile fiction, I found THIRTEEN titles. Under "homosexuality" in the same section, there are 49. Some are for teens, some are not.
Seriously though, speaking for the genre which is 'designated' for my age group, I don't think that it matters what the sexuality of any character is unless it is based on their experience. All it would do is a slight lifestyle change but then there's always the chance that if you say that they're homosexual before you properly get to know the character people may jump to the conclusion that they're extremely camp which is not necessarily the case, obviously. Anyway, from at least my experience of growing up, the children who are already using "gay" as an insult and simply being immature because they live in such a sheltered life and feel that they have no need to not be naive, are very rarely the ones that read. When I was at primary school there was such a group, constantly harassing a particular kid and they were always very homophobic although they probably didn't know what they were saying but I doubt that it was a coincident that none of them read...
Thinking of my children's books, there's barely any, if at all, for younger kids where the issue of a character's sexuality would arise at all. The only context that it's relevant is in a family unit - which is usually mother, father + kids. But beyond that unit, there doesn't seem any reason for the sexuality to be communicated in the story at all. For young adults, I don't think you should be afraid to use characters of any sexuality relatively freely.
The main character in many of my books growing up was gay, or had some other socially unacceptable attribute. For some reason, that always made it easier for me to relate to the character, and so, I'd be more willing to pick up a book with those themes, even now that I'm an adult. That being said, YA novels are full of sex, violence, etc. Depending on your target audience within this genre, you should be able to get away with almost anything, as long as you put a "cap" on it at some point, and keep it YA parent acceptable. I would enjoy reading n excerpt from your novel.
Personally, I wouldn't even get an agent until I have landed a contract with a publishing house. Then I would get an agent to make sure I get the best possible rights and so forth. The agent is there to protect you, the publisher is not.
To me, there are certain matters that are so controversial that try to take over an entire character and obliterate the rest of their personality. Sexuality is one of these. Race, religious orientation, anything that can be used to discriminate or stereotype falls into this category. The key is to make your character realistic and normal. Many authors have fallen into the trap of turning characters into one-dimensional people because they have a controversial trait. So what if your MC is gay? This does not define him. It's simply a part of him. Unless you're writing an Anvilicious story with an Aesop about acceptance, the plot is not going to revolve around the sexual orientation of your MC. It is simply another dimension he has. Write your story. Let him guide you. Go with the flow. Trust me, your readers will be happy that you didn't shoehorn him into a certain sexual orientation just to be published (*cough*Lord of the Rings*cough*). Or that you removed his sexuality entirely because of what others might say (*cough*Harry Potter*cough*). Bottom line: Don't let others tell you what to do. If your literary agent doesn't want to publish you, fire him and find another. To me, a literary agent should back you up and encourage you to succeed, not put more obstacles in your path.
