In the US, today is Martin Luther King Day, in honor of a man whose great dream – that one day all of us would be judged, not by our outward appearances, but by the content of our characters – sometimes still seems so far off. For all minorities, including LGBTQ.
And even within communities fighting injustice, there are blind spots and bigotries. I was looking through my M/M romances, and noting how few of them featured a person of color as a main character. Of those that did, very few had two POC men in love.
Of course, writing authentic POC men, if we are not ourselves part of the group, has been a topic of contention, and one I don’t want to open here. Many of us cling to the safety of writing only the majority communities we know. But in our M/M genre, which sometimes seems saturated with familiar stories, there is a lot of space for exploring the intersection of being GBTQ and being POC, through the ages as well as today.
I hope that between POC writers – and good beta readers for those of us stretching beyond the bounds of our experiences – we will see more of those stories come out. I’m looking forward to Taylor Donovan’s “Living on the Edge” which is coming soon, the story of a Puerto Rican gay law-enforcement MC written by a skillful Puerto Rican author. 
I have enjoyed numerous M/M books with diverse main characters. From “Chulito” by Charles Rice-González, to “Red Envelope” by Atom Yang, to “A Hundred Thousand Words” by Nyrae Dawn, to the classics of E. Lynn Harris, and many others, there are good books available. So today, for Martin Luther King Day, I’d love to hear about the stories with POC gay men that you’ve enjoyed most, and the authors who write in our genre who perhaps deserve more of our attention.
-Kaje Harper
Website: https://kajeharper.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KajeHarper
Goodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4769304.Kaje_Harper
I just read a lovely novella, Summer Research Rain Merton, with an Afro Canadian Hero and and Filipino Canadian Hero! Santino Hassell in ‘ Five Burroughs series has two Puerto Rican heroes. Far From Home with Lorelie Brown is amazing Lesbian romance with an East Asian heroine. Vincent’s Thanksgiving Date by R. Cooper has a African American Hero. Hold Me by Courtney Milan has a Latina (transgender) heroine and an Asian Hero.
I could go on lol. Making a Goodreads list! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/119907.People_of_Color_in_Queer_Romance
Great post!
I will look forward to your list. I love Goodreads lists – I did find one for Interracial M/M and one for African-American Gay Romance which I’m going to peruse further (quite a few books, but several where I went to look at reviews said “badly needs an editor and proofreader”) All resources are welcome, and thanks for the reading suggestions.
Nice post, thanks, and it drew me in. I agree with your titles, and wanted to add a few more that I’ve really liked (and I had to cut myself off). All have gay romance in them, although some may not be tagged “romance” per se. Some are also YA, which is right up your alley, too:
– African American:
A Love Like Blood by Victor Yates (well-deserved 2016 Lammy for best debut);
Under a Sky of Ash by Brandon Witt;
Passion Marks by Lee Hayes;
Nobody’s Son by Shae Connor;
Other Side of the Line by Marguerite Labbe.
– Native American:
Without Reservations by J.L. Langley;
Cut Hand series by Mark Wildyr;
The Search for Soaring Hawk by Terry O’Reilly;
The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon by Tom Spanbauer.
– Latinx:
Normal Miguel by Eric Orrantia
Five Boroughs series by Santino Hassell
I also loved “Under a Sky of Ash” and “Other Side of the Line” – thanks for all the recs. <3
Rhys Ford writes many different cultures of POC in her series, mostly Asian with some Latinx as well. Christina Tomlinson is a WOC author who I believe also writes POC in her stories although I’ve only read one so far. Avril Ashton writes several different series with people who are of African descent.
I love Santino’s characters – multiple ethnicities, and he interweaves them seamlessly. Rhys’ Asian men are also great – I love the way she brings in the language and food of Korea (mainly) and Japan. Robin Covington’s A Convenient Husband has AA and Russian (I think – it’s been a while) MCs. And KJ Charles has a few interracial historicals.
I have a shelf for interracial romance on my GR. It’s not too full yet though! I like reading well done stories with MCs from different backgrounds. Currently listening to KJ Charles’ Wanted, a Gentleman.
I would suggest also “The World in His Eyes”, by A.J. Thomas, in my opinion it’s an excellent book (and free, by the way: it’s part of one of the DRitC events, 2015 maybe?).
CB Lee’s Seven Tears at High Tide has an Asian-American MC, also YA.