10 Books with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist

As we search for more diversity in books, more people are seeking out books with an LGTBQ+ protagonist, however that manifests. Some of these books I really enjoyed, especially Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Tricks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it through the first couple of pages of Middlesex (it didn’t draw me in) but others love it! If you’re looking for a YA book about someone who is intersex and dealing with bullying because of it, check out None of the Above. I have both of Adam Silvera’s big books on my Kindle but I haven’t yet dived into them. Maybe soon!

To complete my Pop Sugar challenge of a book with an LGTBQ+ protagonist I read Regin of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh, a YA fantasy novel featuring a bisexual necromancer who raises the dead and fights evil shades and battles addiction and grief all the while. I don’t love fantasy books, but if you do, you should definitely check it out!

None of the Above by IW Gregorio

A groundbreaking story about a teenage girl who discovers she’s intersex . . . and what happens when her secret is revealed to the entire school.

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight.

A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham

In New York after college, Bobby moves in with Jonathan and his roommate, Clare, a veteran of the city’s erotic wars. Bobby and Clare fall in love, scuttling the plans of Jonathan, who is gay, to father Clare’s child. Then, when Clare and Bobby have a baby, the three move to a small house upstate to raise “their” child together and, with an odd friend, Alice, create a new kind of family.

Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh

Odessa is one of Karthia’s master necromancers, catering to the kingdom’s ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it’s Odessa’s job to raise them. 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching…for freedom, safety, community, family, love

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls’ school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond clasmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them–along with Callie’s failure to develop–leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen.

Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee

Mattie is chosen to play Romeo opposite her crush in the eighth grade production of Shakespeare’s most beloved play in this Romeo and Juliet inspired novel.