The Author – Bart Busschots
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Oct
20
JKR’s Latest Revelation – Dumbledore Was Gay
Filed Under 42 (Life the Universe & Everything) on October 20, 2007 at 7:57 pm
The books may be finished but we still continue to learn more about the characters we have come to love through Joe’s comments. I posted before about how great it was to see a more open JKR now that the books are over. It’s great to finally get to see her starting to share more of the encyclopedic knowledge she has of her characters and their world. However, I have to admit that I thought we’d heard all the big revelations at this stage. It turns out I was wrong! During her current American tour JKR told an audience in New York that Dumbledore was gay! You can read more in this BBC News article.
[tags]Harry Potter, Dumbledore, gay, JK Rowling, homosexuality[/tags]
The most obvious result of this revelation will be even more rebukes of the Potter books by fundamentalists. However, does this make much of a difference to the way we should view Dumbledore? Not really. Being gay does not define who you are so, Dumbledore is just a wizard who happened to be gay. However, it does help us better understand Dumbledore. It sheds a whole new light on his relationship with Grindelwald and probably goes a long way towards explaining why he was, at least according to Rita Skeeter, so slow to tackle the Grindelwald situation on the continent. It also explains why there is no Mrs. Dumbledore.
One of the first questions I asked myself when I read the BBC news article this morning was whether the fandom had missed some glaringly obvious clue in the books. I re-read the Daily Prophet articles about Dumbledore and the extracts from Rits’s book about him included in Book 7 this afternoon and didn’t find any smoking guns. The only thing to note was that it was clear that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had an exceptionally close relationship. You could also argue that it was odd for a man who went on and on about love not to be married and that we should have taken that as a clue. I don’t agree. His sexuality doesn’t enter in to that, it’s still just as odd that Dumbledore didn’t have a significant other. was he simply so heartbroken by what happened with Grindelwald that he never loved in that way again? Or was there a little more to it? Was his whole “for the greater good” thing all just an attempt to impress Grindelwald? Could he have been so ashamed of what he did while blinded by love that he decided never to get involved in a relationship again? Perhaps it was a little of both.
Another question that this raises is why homosexuality was never directly discussed in the books. Sure, the underlying message is one of tolerance and acceptance of those that are different and that certainly goes against homophobia as well as the more obvious things like racism. However, I was always disappointed that JKR never made even the smallest passing reference to a same-sex couple. Even just the very briefest mention of two guys dancing during the Yule Ball would have done the trick. Now that we know that she was thinking about homosexuality while writing these books the omission seems even stranger.
There is certainly some food for thought in this revelation. Lets hope we get many more like it in the future!
Rowling has betrayed all the millions of children and parents who’ve bought her books over the years. To promote magic to children is bad enough, but how they’re stripped of their innocence through an acquaintance with immorality in the form of homosexuality??
If I were the parent of young children, I’d pull every copy of harry potter from my bookcase and return them to the publisher with a strongly worded letter and encourage all my friends and acquaintances to do the same.
Well I really couldn’t disagree with you more. Firstly, the books do not promote witchcraft any more than Disney cartoons promote talking ducks. It’s a fantasy setting.
As for homosexuality, read the books, there is no homosexuality in them at all so really the point is mute. Further more, there is nothing immoral about homosexuality.
The entire Potter books are about the struggle of good against evil and the importance of friendship and love. These are the real morals of the book and that’s a message I totally support. The central characters have the courage to risk everything and risk their lives to save the world from evil. I have to say that’s a message I whole-heartedly support. It’s a good message for kids to hear.
I find your reaction to this news about a character exceptionally disappointing. What difference does it make is a person is gay? I believe in judging people by their actions not by stereotypes. If you think all gay people are immoral you have a very blinkered view of the world and one that doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny.
As for mounting a campaign to sensor the books, I find that nothing short of tragic. There is real evil in this world that needs good people to fight it. If you want to dedicate your efforts to doing good then I’d suggest helping the needy and the hungry or trying to end war and suffering around the world might be a more useful use of your time an effort. That way you would actually be doing some good.
I’m sure you’ll write me off as some form of evil so-and-so for not condemning homosexuality and for giving children enough credit to know the difference between reality and fantasy. I can’t stop you judging me like that but if I’m right it saddens me immensely.
Bart.
I’ve got to admit, I laughed outright when I discovered JK R’s latest shocker. I really didn’t believe it when my brother told me, and thought he was simply trying to rile a reaction out of me. Of course, just like when he told me Dumbledore dies and I was strongly in denial, he was proven to be correct. I myself think it was good for Dumbly to have an implied relationship with Grindlewald. I thought it was a tragic shame when he never had any romantic affairs, but I was thinking inside the box of my knowledge. I was raised by religious Christians who were anti-gay and though I managed to avoid being corrupted with such ignorant thoughts, I was still used to straight being the norm. I can’t believe some people are behaving so outrageously. Seriously, Pam Ali,throwing away your HP books and telling your friends and kids that HP is morally wrong just because JK slipped in a fun fact during an interview? That’s nuts. We all enjoyed the ride of Harry’s story through out the years, and to let such a series be tainted is a tragedy.