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A Guide to Literature’s Most Iconic LGBTQ+ Characters

A celebration of the characters (and writers) who inspired awakenings, understanding, and inclusion.

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Anyone who’s ever felt truly seen by a book understands the life-changing, life-affirming power literature can provide.

For so many LGBTQ+ teens and young adults in decades past, these moments were too few and far between. That has only made the influence of past works with queer representation all the greater, helping them find new audiences and inspiring writers long after publication. To celebrate the characters and stories that buoyed generations of queer readers, we asked author Amanda Deibert to curate a collection of stories about pioneering literary heroes, past and present.

It’s fitting, considering Deibert has spent the past several years steeped in the stories of one of literature’s earliest queer icons, the out lesbian detective Helen Keremos, brought to life in the noir novels by Canadian mystery writer Eve Zaremba, which were published beginning in 1978. The books became cult classics — author Margaret Atwood blurbed one, calling Keremos “a cross between Philip Marlowe and Lily Tomlin” — and 30 years later, it was Atwood who suggested Zaremba revive the character in a graphic novel.

As the writer tapped to bring Detective Keremos back to life in 2021, Deibert collaborated with illustrator Selena Goulding to create Work For A Million, which introduces Keremos to a new generation of fans.

Read on for Deibert’s annotated syllabus on the LGBTQ+ characters and creators who paved the way, weaving from The Color Purple to Stone Butch Blues.

Image by daboost/Getty Images

Amanda Deibert

Amanda Deibert is a New York Times Bestselling comic book and television writer. Her comic book writing includes DC Super Hero Girls: Weird Science, DC Super Hero Girls: Infinite Frenemies, Teen Titans Go!, Wonder Woman ’77, Batman and Harley Quinn, Flash Facts, DC’s The Doomed and the Damned, Wonder Women of History, Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, and Love is Love (NYT #1 Bestseller) for DC Comics, stories in John Carpenter’s Tales for A Halloween Night volumes 2, 3, 4, 5 , & 6 for Storm King Comics and more. She is currently writing for the animated series He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe for Netflix. Other TV credits include work for CBS, SyFy, OWN, PIVOT, HULU and four years as writer for former Vice President Al Gore’s international climate broadcast, 24 Hours of Reality. You can find Amanda on Twitter (constantly) @amandadeibert and on her website amandadeibert.com.