To Authors Writing Literature With LGBTQIA+ Characters,

Thank you. Thank you for writing books with characters that fall outside of society’s guidelines for acceptable.

Still. Still. Still, in our world, people are assumed straight until proven otherwise. It’s still unsafe in so many places–too many places–in the United States much less other countries all over the world to be not-straight and/or fall outside of gender stereotypes. Our culture still works within an assumed gender binary. We assume that people who do not fall into neat and tidy little boxes are deviations from the norm.

Imagine that. Imagine knowing that you are a ‘deviation from the norm’. You are a ‘deviation from the norm’ because you are attracted to people of the same sex. You are a ‘deviation from the norm’ because you are female but prefer to present yourself in a more androgynous fashion. You are a ‘deviation from the…