The best LGBTQ+ books to annoy the people trying to ban them

This book is a fascinating look at how cruelty can turn you ugly on the inside.

It was scandalous at the time of its publication in 1890, because it is very clear that the male character Basil is romantically in love with the man he is painting, the title character Dorian Gray. Basil considers the portrait his best work, and Dorian makes a wish that he can stay as beautiful as the portrait forever.

As Dorian starts to act cruelly toward others, the painting changes but Dorian does not age. The painting acts as a picture of Dorian’s soul as he continues to commit worse and worse crimes against the people around him, until it is too horrifying for him to look at anymore.

I consider this a worthwhile book to start your journey of reading LGBTQ+ books to annoy the people trying to ban them; they’ve been trying to ban this one since its publication. The Picture of Dorian Gray was even used as evidence in court to convict Oscar Wilde of a crime called “gross indecency” that was used to persecute homosexual men in the U.K. in the 1890s.

Reading this book helps a persecuted man get the last laugh at his oppressors and also gives you an interesting dose of gothic horror.

If you’re like me, you are a sucker for stories about an outsider finding themselves in a new society and having to struggle and adapt to circumstances they don’t fully understand.

Genly Ai is a man who is sent to the planet Gethen to convince the people there to join a planetary alliance. The problem is Genly is so fixated on his manhood and personal identity that he can’t adapt culturally in a world where everyone is genderfluid.

Genly’s political mistakes get him into a lot of trouble that his lone ally Estraven tries to save him from, and it is only by learning to accept differences and listen to Estraven that Genly finally succeeds in his quest.

You can’t go wrong with the engrossing worldbuilding in this book, and as a bonus the people trying to ban LGBTQ+ books will be extremely annoyed if you read a book where a man grows to care for a genderfluid alien.

For extra credit you can mail the naysayers a copy of the book using the Ursula K. Le Guin postage stamp, which has Genly and Estraven in the artwork.

When it comes to fantasy books, it’s hard to narrow things down to only one book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

He was a master of satire and the use of asides to parody the tropes of fantasy while also telling compelling stories and building a world you could imagine visiting. If we’re going to annoy the people trying to ban LGBTQ+ books, though, I’d have to recommend starting with The Fifth Elephant.

As the kingdom of dwarves is in disarray over the disappearance of the Scone necessary to crown their king, a group of Night Watch detectives from a distant land must work together to solve the crime while dodging evil werewolves.

One of the detectives on the case is Cheery, a dwarf who causes waves for openly identifying as female (the dwarves follow logic similar to J.R.R. Tolkien’s dwarves in that every dwarf has a beard and gender is never identified, thus defaulting all the dwarves to male and making any dwarf that identifies as female the equivalent of transgender in our world).

It is Cheery’s open femininity that helps the case get resolved in the end. 

This book was one of the first depictions of LGBTQ+ relationships that I ever read, and its compelling characters make it always worth a revisit.

To summarize as briefly as I can, Celie Harris is a young woman who goes through a series of abusive relationships, losing contact with both her sister and her children as she endures psychological and sexual abuse from the men in her life.

Her life starts to change when she meets and falls for Shug Avery, a jazz singer, and Celie eventually discovers the truth about her sister’s whereabouts and reunites with her family. This book is frequently challenged because of the abuse Celie undergoes as well as her feelings for Shug, but it forces you to have important discussions on how to stop abuse from happening. In the end, it is a strong testament to the inner strength of humanity.

I will forever regret missing out on seeing the musical version of this book due to the start of the pandemic in 2020. I’m excited to learn there will be a filmed version of it coming out soon! This book is a great choice to annoy the people trying to ban LGBTQ+ books and to know more about the plot before people start talking about the musical version.

You might believe that I chose this book solely based on the title.

I can’t deny finding the idea of having the cover out and actively reading it in front of the kind of people wanting to ban LGBTQ+ books is a tantalizing one. That said, the real reason I chose this book is it is a helpful guide to the LGBTQ+ community that uses inclusive language and describes the different ways people identify with copious amounts of humor and quotes from members of the community.

It has important information about a wide variety of topics that I wish were around in an easy-to-read format when I was younger. There are frank sex education discussions in this book, which is vital information to fill in the gaps in sex education in most schools. I have this one saved for when the younger members of my family are ready to start reading about sexuality.