YA LGBT Books discussion

What LGBTQIAP+ literary character do you identify with? Is there a book (or TV or movie) character you read/saw and said "I've been there. That's like me"? Or someone you said "I wish that was me"?

I completely identify with Alice from Let's Talk about Love and also Grace from How to Make a Wish

I had a big 'oh gosh' moment reading We Are Okay last month. I wrestle with my mental health and always have done, and La Cour really captured that headspace incredibly well.

As for other aspects of my self, I think there's nothing like Autoboyography. There are other books about growing up queer in religion, but growing up LDS is a unique experience that doesn't wholly relate to other religious upbringings. There are two autobiographies that talk about it, but one was by a teen about severe anti-queer child abuse she endured and the other was written by an adult who was excommunicated for being publicly out. What Autoboyography does is show the contrast, the warm community that is all-encompassing... until you don't conform, until you decide there's another way to live. Though it's the fictional account, that was truer to my experience than Alex's or Sue-Anne's.

I have yet to read a book about an autistic queer character that feels like myself. There's always time, though! There are plenty of us out there. Some of us have even written books! Daniel Tammet, Wenn Lawson and Dawn Prince-Hughes, to name a few.

There are quite a few that have captured parts of me, but nothing all-encompassing.

Simon vs. nailed my general approach to life.

The Great American Whatever was an inspiration for ADHD representation.

Autoboyography hit really close to home with my writing and outsider perspective of an upbringing in a Mormon town.

A+E 4ever captured my emotions associated with falling for a lesbian girl.

And there are so many more.

Rez wrote: "The Great American Whatever was an inspiration for ADHD representation. "

Ooh, I may have to move it up my list. I don't have an official DX for my ADHD like I do for my autism, but I know I have it. My nephew has a dual (autism + ADHD), so it's in the family.