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Me on the YA controversy:
YA deals with some heavy topics, because the teenagers reading it are dealing with those same topics and decisions. I think pretending say, the average sixteen year old has no knowledge of sex, LGBTQ people, underage drinking and drugs, eating disorders, people struggling with addiction, diverse, depression, and self harm. Fiction is one of the ways people try out ideas and ways to handle the more serious decisions\ and issues they are faced with. For example, books in which characters come out and have to deal with various ways to respond to that help kids plan for how they are going to come out and the sorts of responses they can expect. It helps kids who are cis and straight think about how they are going to respond when a friend comes out. Similarly, teens can think about what they are going to do when they are inevitably at a party with drugs or alcohol. Books like Speak open dialog about what constitutes date rape, that young men and women really need to have.

The stories address the reality that high school students are dealing with in their real lives. Better to have fiction that speaks to their needs and interests than them having nowhere to turn.

Ignorance isn't an option. Best to hand young women and men the tools they need to deal with the real world.

Also, literacy is a really good thing for it's own sake.