This Pride Month, LGBTQ+ identities are under attack. According to PEN America’s latest report, of the 3,743 unique titles banned in the 2024-2025 school year, 1,448, or 39%, featured LGBTQ+ characters or people — a sharp increase from 25% of titles in the prior year.
But there are countless reasons why books about queer themes and characters should stay on shelves. Below, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite quotes from authors who have told us why they write LGBTQ+ stories.
A parent told us they shared one of our books with their son, and he cried tears of happiness. ‘That’s me,’ he said. That’s why we write, for kids like that one.
Sarah and Ian Hoffman, authors of Jacob’s Room to Choose
Art is one of the few ways cis people might start to understand and empathize with trans people. If my book speaks to even one person along those lines, then it will have been worth it a little bit. And if it helps just one trans person in a deep-red area feel less alone, then it will have been worth it even more.
Emily St. James, author of Woodworking
My only goal is to bear witness to what it’s like to be an LGBTQ+ child. I want children today to see themselves and each other as they are — unique, ordinary, extraordinary, able to face their fears and adventure, and able to love and be loved.
Charlotte Sullivan Wild, author of Love, Violet
I grew up in Amman — that’s where I was raised — and there was no queer presence around me, and so I think [my] book was very much a desire to puncture that silence, to put forward a queer narrative.
Tareq Baconi, author of Fire in Every Direction
We all experience sexuality, we all have emotions and dreams, and books help us to map those things, they don’t make those things exist. So you can take away the maps, but the landscapes of human life are still there, and always will be. Books are not only a form of freedom, but also a way to develop our imaginations, our empathies, our possibilities in life.
Seán Hewitt, author of Open, Heaven
I’ve heard from adults about how much it would have meant to them if my books had been in the library when they were young and there was almost no LGBTQ content in picture books. And I’ve seen small children rush over to Uncle Bobby’s Wedding with excitement and grab it to take home to show their two moms or two dads.
Sarah Brannen, author of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding
If sexuality is a part of [a character’s] journey and part of the story, then of course I’m going to write about it. That’s why there is sexuality in my books: because it is part of life. There’s no nefarious purpose.
Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club
I remember boys spitting on me at school and calling me [f-slur], and when the spit was dripping on my face, I was thinking, ‘One day, I will tell this story, and to tell this story will be my revenge.’ Storytelling was my revenge against violence.
Édouard Louis, author of Collapse
Teen readers can sniff out bullshit really well, and to not write about sex and sexuality when writing about teens seems strange to me.
Bill Konigsberg, author of Openly Straight
These books are all joyful. They’re books about making connections and finding ourselves in the world. They’re books about happiness and joy and sharing that happiness and joy with other people. They’re not preaching or coercing in any way.
Katherine Locke, author of What Are Your Words?
