Recs if you like The Bride Was a Boy...

Manga isn't just for kids! These are titles intended for more mature audiences, including my personal recs and influential, well-known and bestselling titles that are available in English. Whether it's frank discussions of mental illness, abuse, LGBTQIA+ issues, violence, sexuality, horror or dark fantasy, these are manga that either originally ran in seinen (young adult men) or josei (young adult women) magazines, or I've otherwise broadly categorized through research as "not for for kids."

You didn't have the mood to read but still wanna read something? And also, you're queer? Let's be proud of being queer together by reading!

This title is inspired by the phrase: Be Gay, Do Crime

Feel free to recommend some into the list!!

All of these are from the list that Texas lawmaker Matt Krause in October of 2021 tried and in many cases succeeded to get banned from classrooms and school libraries. There are quite a few interesting and odd choices in there which is part of why I wanted to share this list on here. Not necessarily recommendations but there are some pretty good books on here. As well as a lot of textbooks

In October 2021, Texas State Representative Matt Krause initiated an inquiry targeting a list of approximately 850 books in Texas public schools, alleging they could cause "discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress" regarding race or sex. The list disproportionately targeted LGBTQ+ topics, race/racism, and sex education.

This is my project to read through this list for myself - utilizing my local library system for access to these titles. Follow the journey or join along!

We get flooded with Yuri and Yaoi of varying quality... so instead here are some manga about the gender queer/transgender experience that aims felt were super refreshing and gave a great view into current LGBT+ struggles in modern Japan. Only the first book in a series is included.

manga with trans main characters and/or about trans experiences (non-fiction). nonbinary identities are included in my definition of the trans umbrella.

creator's note: i haven't read all of these yet, so this isn't necessarily a list of recs. i just know these manga have trans mcs/non-fic authors. my personal favorites are boys run the riot, my journey to her, to strip the flesh, and after school mate, if you want some recs from a trans reader.

Comics about real life queer people