How to say (should I say) that my WIP has gay characters to publishers?

Don't. Don't label it. That's not the writer's job; that's Marketing.

Just describe what happens. Label relationships, (sibling, spouse, teacher, lover) in terms of plot/narrative.

I'd way don't mention it outside of the context of the sample chapters.

If you mention it in the cover letter, you'll come off in one of a few ways:

1. A gay person who's aggressive about gayness
2. A straight person who's aggressive about being okay about gayness
3. A straight or gay person who's put a gay relationship into a novel, and is apologizing in advance

None of these will help sell your novel, but might harm your chances. Gayness is not what your book is about. Let folks learn about it in the context of your story...

Just my two cents. Ignore at your pleasure.

I just finished querying an intersex bi-character. I did mention that my MC was born both male and female, but I didn't mention the orientation, aside from mentioning the love interests by name. In the book, it unfolds pretty naturally. Absolutely no one was put off by this and I don't think it harmed my chances. Agents welcome diversity. My agent says she would LOVE to get more books with diversity, but she just never sees them. It was one of the reasons my book jumped out at her.

Also, I do think fantasy is becoming more sexually diverse, and even back in the 80s, Lynn Flewelling published Luck in the Shadows, which has two homosexual protagonists (though it's not realized in the first book). It's still not as frequent as I'd like, but I think it's coming around.

I would suggest describing the book just as any book would be described. Fantasy with gay relationships is basically unremarkable (Authors incl. Lackey, Huff, Flewelling, Patton etc etc)

I really appreciated this advice. I'm querying a historical novel that has two women involved in a romantic relationship. I wasn't sure if I needed to make it clear that they're in a relationship in the query. I haven't heard back on the partial and full requests yet, so we'll see if that's an "off-putting" thing or not.

I feel like fantasy is more accepting of diversity than historical fiction, but I don't know.

There is more of a precedent for mainstream fantasy having gay protagonist than there is for historicals. Historicals with gay protagonists are more often from specialized/gay fiction/small presses. But there are some exceptions like Tipping the Velvet.

Certainly. I do feel like there's a bit of a difference between historicals that have LGBTQ characters and historicals about LGBTQ characters, if that makes sense. (I'm making this claim not knowing the fantasy landscape too well, please forgive me.)

We'll see what happens, though. I'm fine going to a small press if that's where my novel belongs best.

This is all very interesting. I have a novel in submission to agents as well. I label it as Young Adult Contemporary. In the query letter I mention that one girl falls in love with another as part of the plot, but it's just one part of the story. I definitely did not want my book labeled as "gay only". I do have the entire manuscript in submission to a publishing company that only deals with books by and about lesbians. It's my hope that the book won't be put under this narrow label, but at the same time if that's the only way to get it published I will.

Personally, I did mention it in my query, for two main reasons:
a) Some agents are particularly looking for books with queer elements, so that may make them more likely to request
b) If an agent is put off by a queer romance or thinks it'd be too hard a sell, it's better to know that at the query stage than the partial/synopsis stage. Stops me from getting my hopes up, stops them from wasting their time. Everybody wins.

FWIW, here's part of my query's opening paragraph:

[...] a 93,000-word standalone upper-YA fantasy featuring dual narrators, a troubled romance between two girls, and a whole lot of sign language.

Click to expand...

And here's the relevant bit in my pitch paragraphs:

By all rights, Amara should despise Cilla—and part of her does—but growing up together under the harsh command of Cilla's caretaker has created a bond neither of them can admit to.

Click to expand...

If I could've made the romance clearer in my pitch paragraphs, I might not have mentioned it in the opening paragraph, but my pitch was hella difficult to write as is. The set-up/plot are so complex that I really couldn't spend any more words on the romance, no matter how important it is to the book. It's much clearer in the synopsis since I have more room there--the part where I'm all "AND THEN THEY KISS, AND LO, IT IS HOT" leaves little room for doubt--but most agents don't ask for a synopsis straight-up.


Of course, YMMV. I understand the reasons in the thread for not mentioning it, as well.