Not gay - but I'll admit that part of the reason that I'm pro-gay rights today is because of the Vanyel books, which were the first time I remember ever seeing a) a gay main character and b) a gay character presented as a sympathetic person with genuine feelings toward their partner(s). It gave me a perspective different from my mother's,which is that homosexuality is sinful and not "real love", or my father's, which tended to conflate homosexuality with child abuse... even though he had an uncle who he cared for who he was pretty sure looking back was gay.

I tend to like her a lot for her openness towards religious differences as well - again, it gave me a viewpoint of "hey, just because this isn't what Mom & her church say is THE TRUTH, doesn't mean that it's invalid or that we have to dislike them for Not Believing The Same Things We Do."

I like her fairy-tale retellings as well, her Magic Kingdoms series is fun.