From Newsweek:
One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. “Dumbledore is gay, actually,” replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort’s predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonished fans, Rowling added. “I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy.”
LOLCats erupted too:
Good lord. A gay wizard teaching small children how to use their wands! (waa waaa waaaaa!)
5 thoughts on “Wizards, Cats and Wands”
from our perspectives: no big deal.
from the perspective of a potter fankid questioning his or her sexual orientation: great importance.
I disagree, I think it’s sort of cool the way it makes no difference, that just matter-of-factly, the character is gay… I don’t see it as retroactive, i see it as it doesn’t matter what sexuality he is…
I have to agree with Split. A bit too late on the coming out of Ye Olde Nimbus 2000 closet. But she’s like Jesus now and anything that falls from her lips regarding the HP mythology will be taken as gospel by her fans.
eh, it won’t affect my life, but if one or two (or a few thousand) kids who are into the whole harry potter craze have a realisation that being gay is just fine because of this, it helps. it’s easy to dismiss as irrelevant, but gay-positive or out gay characters aren’t as common as they might be, and some kids (and adults) who feel isolated and marginalised might see this news at the right time to avoid shame, bad decisions and suicide.
i’m no fan of ms. rowling, typically, but she has encouraged kids to be slightly more interested in reading, has defied hysterical fundamentalist christian criticism, and has now made it utterly normal for heroic characters in children’s (and young adults’) literature to be queer. good for her.
Ya, ’cause retroactively gay fictitious characters are the substantial role models we’ve all been waiting for.