Unlock My Topic Please

So that we can provide faster and better support, this forum (the "Public Suggestion Box") has been retired. Instead, please send any suggestions you have to us using the official website contact form.

This allows us to streamline our support system so that we can get to your message much faster. Instead of our support staff having to check three different places (support forum, suggestion box, and contact form messages), they know can respond to all message through one method, with that one method being the official website contact form.

Moderator: Official Reviewer Representatives

Locked
User avatar
Anacoana
Posts: 117
Joined: 30 Oct 2014, 13:30
Favorite Author: Too many to count
Favorite Book: More plentiful than cloud wisps
Currently Reading: Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-anacoana.html

Unlock My Topic Please

Post by Anacoana »

I'd like to discuss re-opening my topic LGBT+ Books? (http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewto ... =1&t=23403). I put it up and was redirected semi-accurately to a pre-existing thread called Can anyone recommend any good LGB books? (http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewto ... rs#p180070) which, in my mind, isn't similar enough to mine to validate my thread being locked.

The topic searching for LGB books first of all doesn't include transgenders, and if you think it's hard to find books with gay people in them, it's twenty times harder to find ones with transgender main characters. Also, this pre-existing one is searching for books with characters. That can be anything from sassy best friend to waiter-who-looks-at-protagonist-in-a-maybe-flirty-way. Or it could be the male-antagonist-with-a-male-lover, or a casual mention of two moms/dads even though you never meet them.

My point is, my thread is looking for protagonists. Characters you spend the whole book with and get to know as people, not just one little glimpse or factor of them. When someone is a protagonist you're more likely to identify with them, and people need that for skin color, gender, and culture; we need that for sexuality too. While representation is getting better, it's too often like the examples I stated above, just a character or two tossed in to make sure people know the author is accepting. LGBT+ kids in many areas face day to day struggles, be it coming out vs not coming out, conflict between their sexuality and their beliefs/culture/friends/family, how involved to be with the rainbow community, to be aware of how violent people can be towards us and be wary constantly or to trust other people, the dicey environment of school as a teacher or student, as well as things that everyone else struggles with. When I was younger I had all these thoughts I just knew were vile, until I read Down To The Bone and realized that here's someone like me sexuality-wise, they understand and they're going through it too.

Protagonists are incredibly important, and we need books that are specifically seen through an LGBT+ character's eyes, something that's hard to find unless you have the time or burning desire to search for them and try to find reviews of them. And in this day where everything is happening at once and there are a thousand things to distract you, who's really going to do that. LGBT+ kids are underrepresented as it is, and even more underrepresented as protagonists. So I'd like my thread specifically for them to be unlocked please. Thank you for your time.

~Jessica
User avatar
Gravy
Gravymaster of Bookshelves
Posts: 39044
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 02:02
Favorite Author: Seanan McGuire
Favorite Book: As many as there are stars in the sky
Currently Reading: The Ghost Tree
Bookshelf Size: 1027
fav_author_id: 3249

Post by Gravy »

I agree with this.
The threads are different enough to me to be separate.
In fact the original said...
MandiKenendy wrote:I'm always looking for books with LGB characters are simply in the story with everyone else rather than being their sexuality being the focus of the story. Can any one recommend any books which have LGB characters but are not necessarily focusing on their sexuality?
And as was stated above...trans wasn't even listed.

As it is I can think of quite a few books/series that have LGB chracters that are not the focus.
However stories where the protagonist is LGBT, and deal with what that actually means, are sparse.
I'd love to have this thread as a place to look for recommendations.
Pronouns: She/Her

What is grief, if not love persevering?

Grief is just love with no place to go.
User avatar
gali
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 53652
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 07:12
Favorite Author: Agatha Christie
Currently Reading: The Suite Life
Bookshelf Size: 2287
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-gali.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
Publishing Contest Votes: 0
fav_author_id: 2484

Post by gali »

After reconsideration, I unlocked the topic. Next time just PM please.
A retired Admin/Mod

Pronouns: She/Her

"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer J. Adler)
Locked

Return to “Public Suggestion Box (Retired)”