Score

Why is Heinlein on this list? I thought he frowned upon gay men.

My favorite LGBT sci-fi book is CAGES by Aidan Edwards. It is hands down THE best LGBT book I've ever read, check it out:
https://amzn.com/B01K29NTVA

It's sexy and it's deep and it's different and it's UGH so good! Plus it has a realistic bi guy as the main character, which is really interesting

Songmaster by one of the greatest homophobic authors Orson Scott Card is on a list for LGBT Science Fiction and Fantasy?

I haven't read it but I can't imagine (and there is nothing in the blurb indicating) any positive LGBT characters.

Michael wrote: "Songmaster by one of the greatest homophobic authors Orson Scott Card is on a list for LGBT Science Fiction and Fantasy?

I haven't read it but I can't imagine (and there ..."

I know, right?

I was surprised to see Stranger in a Strange Land on this list. It's been a while since I read it, but I distinctly remember it having homophobic and transphobic passages.

At one point the book discusses how the main character only associated with very feminine women and very masculine men because they were mentally stronger, and androgynous people were weak hearted causing him to shun them.

There was also a line where he receives a romantic letter from a male fan of his, and the book criticizes the man and stated he was confused/disturbed/"off the right path".

Stranger in a Strange Land should definitely not be on this list! Does it wind up on these lists because of trolls? I had been especially interested in reading it after seeing it on several such lists on GR but thankfully discovered how bigoted and sexist this and other books by Robert A. Heinlein are before wasting my time.

I would also question the inclusion of anything Orson Scott Card, not only because of his ignorant statements, but because the only LGBT characters portrayed “positively” in his works are those who repress their desires (this is what I have been told of his work; I have not read it myself, nor do I intend to). Obviously, I am not advocating only including books with happy endings, but when it isn’t about the story or characters and only an author promulgating their bigotry, I would exclude it.

Are sci-fi and fantasy comics/graphic novels admissable to this list? There have been a large number of recent ones with LGBT+ main characters (e.g. Saga, Rat Queens, The Wicked And The Divine).

Wilder Girls is my favourite sf-f with two bi leads and since it's about an all-girls' boarding school, of course half the cast is queer.

I found out recently that books that do not meet the quantifiable criteria for a list can be removed with a request to the Goodreads Librarians Group. Best and worse lists don't count, but "main character who is LGBTQ" is definitive.

So some of these books that do not meet that criteria could be removed.