Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [3]
Although the crowd at Carnegie Hall cheered the news, the international press reacted like a bunch of Rita Skeeters (the tabloid journalist who penned a tell-all book about Dumbledore in DH), writing that his relationship with young Harry Potter was somehow immoral. Talking heads on TV wondered if the kindly old wizard was suddenly too shocking and controversial to be included in a book for children. Readers on fan forums and blogs moaned that the author had ruined their personal perception of Dumbledore because they had never thought of him as gay while reading the books.
But get over it—Jo is a strong, proud woman, and kudos to her for being honest! She created Professor Dumbledore, and he is a fabulous character who always stands up for the truth. And in this case, the fact is that Dumbledore never falls in love with a woman, he falls in love with a man. For J.K.R. to dance around that would have been dishonest and cowardly, and it would have sent the message that she was ashamed of the one gay character she created. And it doesn’t change anything in the story one bit—Dumbledore can be gay and still be a wise and ethical advisor for Harry. He can be gay and still be a Gryffindor. In an interview with the BBC a few days after outing Dumbledore, J.K.R. said rather scornfully: “… do I think a gay person can be a moral compass? I think it’s ludicrous that we’re asking that in the 21st century.” [JKR-RI] Exactly. People need to come into the 21st century and stop being so prudish.
Even though the religious right started jumping up and down raving about this issue as if Dumbledore were suddenly a monster, J.K.R. didn’t bring up Dumbledore’s orientation just to shock people or because sex is so important to the story. Obviously, it isn’t since Dumbledore is over one hundred years old and as celibate as any priest. But the author had to explain why someone as intelligent as Dumbledore could have had a fatal attraction to a man like Grindelwald, who held racist beliefs and thought Muggles should be dominated by wizards. It was a youthful infatuation—one that was over with very quickly—but it’s important to understand that Dumbledore’s mistake was not in allowing himself a gay romance, but in trusting the wrong person. J.K.R.’s point is that love is blind. That is a lesson for people of every persuasion; it just so happens that in this case the relationship is gay.
Looking back, it’s great to know that there was a major character in the books who had his own private struggles because his orientation was different. Now we know that a gay wizard can be a successful headmaster of Hogwarts, someone who never backs down from a fight, and who maintains his sense of humor and regal dignity no matter what. The Harry Potter books are sometimes dismissed as stereotypical for their emphasis on traditional marriage and family life, but Dumbledore had an alternate lifestyle all along. We should applaud J.K.R. for being bold and giving kids a role model—to make the smartest, most powerful wizard in the world gay sends a strong message and advances tolerance and equality. It also shows that discrimination isn’t just between pureblood wizards and half-blood wizards. Bigotry exists in many forms.
Yes!
It would have been better if J.K.R. had never blurted out her view of Dumbledore’s sexuality. Fans who never saw Dumbledore as a gay man were left feeling uneasy about having missed something, as if they had failed a test of political correctness set up by the author. J.K.R. may have thought of Dumbledore as gay all along, but she never bothered to ask her fans what they believed. Most people had honestly never given it much thought. After J.K.R. made her statement, the outrage didn’t just come from homophobes or religious fanatics, but from parents who were taken aback that a children’s