Discussion: Gay Protagonists in YA

Hi, guys! It's been awhile, and it's been even longer since I've done a discussion post(like, literally probably a year ago). Just by reading the title of this post, you're more than likely preparing yourself for harsh words or something, since this topic can be quite controversial(the bookish community is almost always great about it though). But I just want to clear that right up: I fully support gay rights!


Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, onto the actual discussion.
I have never, ever, ever read a book with gay male protagonists or female lesbian protagonists. "gasp"

I know, I know how horrible that makes me as a blogger; I should be exploring as many different perspectives, genres, etc that the YA category has to offer! But hear me out. I have of course read books with lesbian/gay side characters(see Unspoken and more that I can't think of at the top of my head), but, for some reason, I'm hesistant to read books with a female(or gay male protagonist, but since I mainly like to read from a girl's perspective...bash me for being discrimative, there, if you like)lesbian protagonist. I know, it sounds like I do not support LGBT rights, but that was the purpose of me clarifying it in the beginning...so no one would immediately start getting defensive.

The reason why I'm hesistant to read lesbian perspectives? It was hard for me to pinpoint the exact reason, and I still haven't found one, main reason, but I keep coming back to this...I feel as if I'm afraid that I won't like reading from a lesbian or gay characer. And then I'll feel horrible, because if I didn't like a gay character, I won't deserve to call myself a LGBT advocator. But, what I've realized(I've had this discussion post circling in my brain for months, I kid not), is that it doesn't matter if I end up not liking a gay or lesbian protagonist. Because it's okay to hate characters! I hate characters in books and TV shows all the time. Even if I hated a lesbian character, it probably wouldn't be because they're lesbian orgay; it would probably be because I didn't like how the author illustrated the character. So, therefore, by the end of the year, I will be amending the statement "I haven't read a book with LGBT protagonists." to "I have read multiple LGBT books with lesbian or gay protagonists!"

These are some books I hope to tackle:
  

  



These are less than half of the books I want to read, but I shortened up the list to some of my most anticipated books!

How about you? Do you recommend some of these books? Do you feel I should be bashed for not ever having read from a LGBT perspective?