Y'know, I take issue with the whole "be careful who you show it to" part of this thread. I'm not saying that it won't be a difficult sell, and you'll have to handle both the homosexual and the abusive relationships very carefully - but you'll have to do that anyway, whether you're aiming for publication or not.
But if you choose your publisher carefully, there's no reason you can't sell the book with both those plot lines in it - there are lots of homosexually oriented publishers out there, and even in the mainstream, there are editors noted for wanting material that pushes the envelope. And honestly - the entire homosexual thing is so fragmented that I can point to different people and have one say "gays are still being persecuted" and another and have them say "it's practically mainstream now." The irony is, both are correct. The entire gay/lesbian thing is now on the verge of becoming mainstream, and the barriers are falling. There have been fewer and fewer reactions against it in the mainstream culture, and I know of at least one author who's already got a book out there about a young woman's self-discovery of her same sex attraction - Hello Groin by Beth Goobie, published by Orca Books. I haven't heard a word of controversy about it.
So write the book the way it demands to be written, and first, don't worry about publication yet. When you're past the revisions and are thinking in terms of editors and agents, look for ones in the mainstream that like that on edge stuff, and choose them. Likewise, look for presses that are open to gay/lesbian work.
One of the advantages of writing YA is that we're not restricted to just the fantasty publishers - most YA publishers have a variety of genres under the YA banner - SF, mystery, thriller, romance, literary and fantasy. It's just a matter of doing your homework and finding them.
One last nag. Be very wary when you think or hear someone make a broad generalization, like "nobody like . . . x" I had a writer ask me the other day how come she hears agents and editors hate animal protagonists, but there are so many animal protags out there. It's easy - some editors and agents hate 'em and won't deal with 'em, others will - and the biggest reason for not wanting them is because so many of them are so badly written. But I can promise that if you make or hear a broad generalization like that, it's wrong. It may take some spadework, but I'll bet you can find someone who will be interested in your book, if (and I say this simply because I haven't read anything you've written) it's publishable and a riveting story.
