LGBTQ themes in horror fiction refers to sexuality in horror fiction that can often focus on LGBTQ+ characters and themes within various forms of media. It may deal with characters who are coded as or who are openly LGBTQ+, or it may deal with themes or plots that are specific to gender and sexual minorities.
New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) peoples. The LGBTQ-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBTQ community, LGBTQ rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBTQ community, with well-attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.
Julia Michelle Serano is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, transgender and bisexual activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books, such as Whipping Girl (2007), Excluded (2013), and Outspoken (2016). She is also a public speaker who has given many talks at universities and conferences. Her writing is frequently featured in queer, feminist, and popular culture magazines.
Elisha Lim is a scholar, artist and graphic novelist living in Toronto. Lim advocates the use of the gender-neutral pronoun "they". Lim is currently an assistant professor at York University, in the faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Their research focuses on social media, theology, and critical race theory.
Persimmon Blackbridge is a Canadian writer and artist whose work focuses on feminist, lesbian, disability and mental health issues. She identifies herself as a lesbian, a person with a disability and a feminist. Her work explores these intersections through her sculptures, writing, curation and performance. Her novels follow characters that are very similar to Blackbridge's own life experiences, allowing her to write honestly about her perspective. Blackbridge's struggle with her mental health has become a large part of her practice, and she uses her experience with mental health institutions to address her perspective on them. Blackbridge is involved in the film, SHAMELESS: The Art of Disability exploring the complexity of living with a disability. Her contributions to projects like this help destigmatize the attitudes towards people with disabilities. Blackbridge has won many awards for her work exploring her identity and the complexities that come with it.
Lumberjanes is a comic book series created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Gus Allen, and ND Stevenson and published via the Boom Box! imprint of Boom! Studios. The story follows a group of girls spending summer at a scout camp, and the strange creatures and supernatural phenomena they encounter there. Originally planned as an eight-part series, the comic was made an ongoing series following strong sales and critical acclaim. The comic series came to a close after 75 issues with a one-shot finale in December 2020, ending its six-year-run.
Zom-B is a young adult zombie apocalyptic-thriller novel series by written by Irish author Darren O'Shaughnessy under the pen name Darren Shan. The series is told by first-person perspective of B Smith, a teenager turned into a zombie. Like Shan's previous series, Zom-B is notable for exploring themes of racism, xenophobia, and the sociological concept of "us and them".
Alice May Oseman is an English author and illustrator of young adult fiction. She secured her first publishing deal at 17 and published her first novel Solitaire in 2014.
Anna-Marie McLemore is a Mexican-American author of young adult fiction magical realism, best known for their Stonewall Honor-winning novel When the Moon Was Ours, Wild Beauty, and The Weight of Feathers.
Lesbian erasure is a form of lesbophobia that involves the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbian women or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues, activism, and identity is deemphasized or ignored within feminist groups or the LGBT community.
Andrew "A. J." Sass is an American author of children's and young adult fiction, best known for his middle grade contemporary novel, Ana on the Edge, and his Time op-ed discussing transgender and non-binary character representation in youth literature.
Adiba Jaigirdar is a Bangladeshi-Irish writer. Her debut novel, The Henna Wars, is listed as one of Time magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time, alongside novels such as Little Women, Lord of the Flies, and The Catcher in the Rye.
Brainwyrms is a 2023 body horror novel by the English author Alison Rumfitt, published by Cipher Press.
Hell Followed With Us is a 2022 dystopian fantasy horror young adult novel by transgender author Andrew Joseph White. It was published to commercial and critical success. An animated film based on the book is currently in production, led by co-producer Lilly Wachowski.
Gretchen Felker-Martin is an American horror author and film and TV critic. She is best known to date for her novel Manhunt (2022).
Alison Evans is an Australian novelist and writer. They are a transgender non-binary person who identifies as bisexual, and their work often features queer and transgender characters. Evans grew up in the town of Emerald among the Dandenong Ranges, a setting which went on to heavily influence their work.
Euphoria Kids is a 2020 young adult fantasy novel by Alison Evans. It tells the coming of age story of three transgender young people named Iris, Babs and "the boy". The story contains elements of magical realism, including the presence of witches, dryads and faeries, and that Iris "grew from a seed in the ground" while Babs is "made of fire".
