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Queering Sex Education: Young Adult Literature with LGBT Content as Complementary Sources of Sex and Sexuality Education

This article explores the nature of young adult texts as complementary sources of informal queer sex and sexuality education, along with a close reading of a sample of this young adult (YA) literature. LGBT teens are often left out of discussions in sex education classrooms in the United States because of discriminatory curricula, ignorance on the part of some teachers and students, or fear of retribution from conservative political and religious activists. Young adult texts, therefore, have become popular objects of study within many educational fields, especially within the current socio-political climate in the United States, as they represent spaces for teens to explore sex and sexuality within a relatively safe environment, free for the most part from the oppression of homophobic or ignorant peers.