Strollerderby
When Fictional Characters Come Out Of the Closet
I went on vacay (with accompanying media blackout) for the weekend, and when I got back I was stunned to hear about J.K. Rowling’s announcement that Dumbledore is gay. See, I totally thought that Winnie the Pooh would be the first children’s book character to be outed. Other than that, the news about the Hogwarts headmaster just makes me love Rowling and the Harry Potter books even more than I did before, and it also makes me understand the Grindelwald thing a little better… I know, I just lost anyone who hasn’t kept up with the series.
But here’s something fans and non-fans alike might not be too surprised to learn: Conservatives and fundamentalists who thought the books were the work of the devil before now have yet another reason to hiss whenever they see wizard robes. Straight-up whackadoo Laura Mallory had loads to shriek on the subject, including, “The kids are being introduced to a cult [ed: occult?] and witchcraft practices,” and “A homosexual lifestyle is a harmful one,” she added. “That’s proven, medically.” I so want to go up to her and pretend to hex her, just for fun.
Oh, would it be too much to hope that we’ll now get more kids’ books with gay characters, and it’ll just be par for the course, not a big thing?
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12 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI am disappointed in Rowling. If he was to be gay and the idea of her books was tolerance, why didn’t she say that in the beginning? Is she just looking for publicity? Why doesn’t she just become friends with Britney if she wants more Paps to follow her around? I didn’t mind the fact that he was gay, why didn’t she go into it more? Kids have to know about gay people. It could have been a great opportunity to introduce the idea of tolerance. It seems to me it was an after thought to get attention.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amHello, Frog and Toad, Bert and Ernie? Total fun loving homos. Love them all.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amdon’t forget about TinkyWinky! lol
jenseju commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amTwo words: Bert & Ernie.
I agree with Jenny and Veronica. JKR has TONS of stuff about characters’ backgrounds that never made it into the books. I mean, we never hear much about most other Hogwarts staffs’ personal pasts or present lives…
And if you’re looking at things from the students’ points of view anyway, don’t you remember being a kid and running into teachers at the store or a restaurant, and they’re with family/dates? Remember how shocked you felt?
JennyOndioline commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI think it wasn’t mentioned in the books because they are, indeed, for kids. Sexuality wasn’t a focus of the novels for obvious reasons. However as an adult HP fan I wasn’t in the least bit surprised by the announcement, especially not after reading book 7. The hints are there, but they’re not so obvious that a kid’s gonna pick up on them
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI’m perfectly willing to believe that Rowling always had in mind that Dumbledore was gay, from the very beginning, but there was simply never a reason to bring it to the forefront in the books. The only thing retroactive about it is that now she’s filling everyone else in on this fact, but the fact was always there.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amNPR had a great piece on Dumbledore yesterday:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15528724
And a big HEY on Pooh bear. Leave him and Piglet outta this.
AllisonWonder commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI don’t know, I think the best thing about it is that it WASN’T an issue in the books. He was a good guy, gay or straight. Rowling probably knew a lot about characters that didn’t come out (so to speak) in the books because it wasn’t relevant to the plot. It didn’t affect his role as headmaster, etc., and it wasn’t necessary for it to be explained in the books- but it’s there.
MamaT commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI think the author is just pissed about the people who don’t like the book because of conservative religious backgrounds. So this is one more way to take a job. Kinda immature in my opinion. I mean, whatever anyone said, the books have been enormously successful. Whatever happened to ‘the best revenge is a life lived well?’
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amHOw can he be gay? He is not real!
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amYeah, the whole “Dumbledore is gay, retroactively” thing just seemed so weird to me. Like, she realized she wished she’d put an openly gay character in the series and so retconned Dumbledore as the one. And seriously, WHO CARES? It doesn’t make him any more or less of a wonderful character and just seems so out of place to have done it after the series was finished. If she meant to write him as gay, it would have been a lot less clunky had she just written it into the books themselves. I think I got the gay vbe from the Grindelwald thread, but figured the exact nature of that relationship or any subsequent ones Dumbledore may have had was not significant to his motivations.
Also, he had to have been pretty deep in the closet for it not have come up ONCE in the seven-year span of the books. What does THAT say about the normalcy of being out?
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI don’t give a hoot who is gay and who isn’t. But honestly? I don’t see why the issue of sexuality has to even come up in books that are supposed to be for children. Wasn’t there just a post last week about explaining sexuality to children?
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