gay – Page 2 – YA Pride

Review: Street Dreams by Tama Wise

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:32-05:00June 26th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: gay, Intersectionality, PoC, Queer Guys, Realistic|

by Nathaniel Harrington Street Dreams (Bold Strokes Press 2012) From Goodreads: Tyson Rua has more than his fair share of problems growing up in South Auckland. Working a night job to support his mother and helping bring up his two younger brothers is just the half of it. His best friend Rawiri is falling afoul of a broken home, and now Tyson's fallen in love at first sight. Only thing is, it's another guy. Living life on the sidelines of the local hip-hop scene, Tyson finds that to succeed in becoming a local graffiti artist or [...]

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Dumbledore Gets Married in Ireland. Sort Of.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:41:33-05:00June 25th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Activism, Advocacy, Allies, gay, LGBTQIA, Representation|

by Jennifer Polish So Dumbledore and Gandalf got married. At the suggestion of J.K. Rowling. And all the fandoms rode off into the proverbial sunset. But that’s not the entire story. In the same episode of Doctor Who that Shakespeare was portrayed as bisexual (I punched the air myself before remembering I was watching it with a straight cis guy who was glaring at me), the Doctor proclaims – after saving the world with the iconic spell Expelliarmus! (please don’t ask how) – “Good old J.K.!” Which is largely what the queer interwebs have been saying of late: [...]

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Queer YA Scrabble: Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:41:37-05:00June 6th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Fun Things|Tags: Bisexual, gay, lesbian, LGBTQIA, PoC, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Realistic|

Boyfriends with Girlfriends is a LGBTQAI+ book written by Alex Sanchez and published in 2011 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Boyfriends with Girlfriends (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011) What is it about? While Sergio is attracted to both girls and guys, he’s only dated girls before. Lance has always known he’s gay, but he’s never had a serious boyfriend. When they meet, there’s an instant sizzle, and they know that they’ve got something special. But will it be enough to overcome their differences? Allie has been into guys her whole life, and [...]

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Friendships Are Hard.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:41:39-05:00May 27th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Teen Voices|Tags: gay, LGBTQIA, Queer Guys|

by John Hansen By most standards, I've won the queer lottery. I live in one of the first U.S. states to have legalized gay marriage; I have parents who went through only a minimal learning curve when I came out to them; I attend a high school that not only has a gay-straight alliance, but whose gay-straight alliance is active enough that the school newspaper often reports on its activities. I'm lucky. I know that. And yet, here I am: seventeen years old, proudly queer, out to everyone I know online—but I'm still beyond terrified to tell anyone [...]

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Never Sellout Your Heart

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:40-05:00May 21st, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: gay, publishing|

by Adam Silvera When my agent and I went on submission with More Happy Than Not, I expected editors to reject the book. I wasn’t wrong. I’m not some pessimist who believed publishers would pass on my book simply because it was my book. This certainly isn’t the case for all the editors, but a couple of them—their names and houses to remain unnamed—didn’t think the character’s homosexuality was really the best move for this book and essentially wanted me to rewire my narrator’s heart. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (SoHo Teen, June 2015) [...]

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We’re All Bending Reality

By Olivia|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 15th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: gay, Queer Guys, Representation, Speculative|

By Alex London As a closeted teenager, thinking about any kind of future for myself was an act of speculative fiction. I attended a conservative all-boys prep school, a place where, at the time, athletes were kings and heroes and there was only one way to be a man. Any deviation from that way was seen as a personal failing. And I was failing. I had deviant desires and strange daydreams. I was different. I also had no gay role models and no books with gay characters to look to. Without any external guidance to look to, my [...]

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When Books Save Lives… And When They Don’t

By Kale|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 9th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: Bisexual, gay, Latin@, Mental Health|

(warning for discussion of suicide) by Alex Sanchez Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez (Simon & Schuster, 2001) When my first novel, Rainbow Boys, was about to be published my editor asked me, “Do you realize this book isgoing to save lives?” I wondered if he’d confused my book with someone else’s. But then the novel came out, and I began to receive emails from readers. Some said the protagonists had become their role models. Others said they’d read the book over and over when they felt lonely and afraid. And then came responses like this one: [...]

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They Turned My Gay Teen Novel Into a Movie. Here’s What I Learned.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:00-05:00May 3rd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: gay, Other Media, Queer Guys, Realistic|

by Brent Hartinger Geography Club (HarperTeen, 2003) They've turned my 2003 gay teen novel Geography Club into a movie. It came out in 2013 (and it's on Netflix now if you're curious). Since then, people have asked me how it all happened and what I've learned from the whole experience. What did I learn? The story starts when I graduated from college and decided to try to make a career writing novels and screenplays. It was the early 90s, and one of my first books was a young adult novel about a gay teen named Russel Middlebrook and his misfit [...]

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New Releases: April 2015

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:01-05:00April 5th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: Bisexual, Fantasy, gay, graphic novel, New Adult, New Releases, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Realistic, Representation, Trans|

April 2nd (USA) Weathering the Storm (Harmony Ink Press, 2015) Weathering the Storm by Caitlin Ricci -- (GAY) Goodreads Summary: "Robbie’s dad has always been hard on Robbie and his brothers, but when their mom dies on Robbie’s sixteenth birthday, he becomes downright abusive. Robbie doesn't understand why his dad is so mean to him or why his brothers resent him for their mom's accident, but he desperately tries to hide the bruises. On top of that, after his dad's horse training jobs run out, he moves them to Colorado to their uncle's ranch in the [...]

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Excerpt Tour: Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:02-05:00March 26th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: gay, LGBTQIA, New Releases, Queer Guys, Realistic, Romance|

Here at GAY YA we are extremely excited about the upcoming SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli, and today we have the pleasure of featuring an excerpt from the book! Get excited because SIMON it's an amazing debut, and you do not want to miss it. No seriously, all that praise it has been getting online? Completely worth it and you need to check it ouuuut. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Balzer + Bray, 2015) But first, what is it about? Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the [...]

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