Because queer characters are supposed to stay in queer literature, where the icky gayness doesn't spill over into the space of 'normal' readers. Didn't you get the memo?!

Argh. This type of thing makes me furious. I had someone I respected really disappoint me when a vampire novel I recced to her left her cold because, and I quote "Vampires aren't supposed to be black."

Sometimes I lament the metric tons of cookie cutter formula books in several genres, and then sometimes I think that the readers are getting exactly what they want: more of the same, with a digit or two changed in the serial numbers.