JK Rowling Sucks

Dumbledore is gay, 'Harry Potter' author reveals

Story Highlights
  • Headmaster of Hogwarts in "Harry Potter" series is gay, J.K. Rowling says
  • Readers had long speculated on the character's sexuality
  • Rowling: Dumbledore in love with, let down by his rival, Gellert Grindelwald

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.
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Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/10/20/harry.potter.ap/index.html
 
"Homophobia" itself is a poorly chosen term. There's no fear involved. It's an indoctrinated hatred just like any other.

If Dumbledore's sexual orientation were important to the story, then it should have been included in the books. If Dumbledore's sexual orientation were important to developing the character, it should have been brought up in discussions about writing the books, and I have to imagine sexual identity is as important to any fictional character as it is to any one of us. That it never came up is expected as the sexual content of the books is predictably low (they are for children, after all), and the sexual orientation of any given person, fictional or not, cannot simply be assumed by a casual observer. Put simply, just because the only flamer in Dumbledore's office was Fawkes, doesn't mean the big guy himself wasn't gay.

And who cares if he was? He is a great character who embodied strength, civility, knowledge, restraint, and compassion. That's what's important about his character, not his sexual orientation. I'd rather have kids read a book with a role model who is all those thing who happens to be gay than a straight character who is none of those things.
 
I tolerate homosexuality in society. That is all that is required of me in a deomcracy. Tolerance, not acceptance.
Public, vocal criticism of things I don't like is another important part of democracy.
Do I dislike it enough to skip lunch and protest somewhere? Hell no.

It's just a book..
Lemme think of another thread to start.
Here in the cantina, things can get heated, but that's ok cause we're all adults and we care.
 
Fiddleback said:
Listen sodak, Danny and I are friends, as Jake has said perfectly above. We've been through more ups and downs in the last year than can even be sniffed at by our disagreement over these books. I'm going to shoot straight with him. I'm going be honest with him when I support and concur with his belief in UFO's. I'm going to continue to pray with him over his problems, and I hope like hell to have his prayers during mine. But I will shoot straight with him, and I think he'll appreciate that.

To suggest that the works are diminished because a fully fleshed out and intricately planned character happens to be gay and that because of that maybe we shoud have terrorists kill the author is a deplorable thing to say. And it does reek of homophobia. If you cannot get that, then you just can't. I don't post here to educate you, or believe myself better than you in any way. But I also don't need your coaching on my posts either. So thanks for your concern, but I'm disregarding your guidance.
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I wasn't coaching or guiding you, I was disagreeing with you. I reserve the right to disagree, and if a label gets put upon me because of that, then that reflects on the name-caller, not the one with the logical argument. That was the point of my post. Feel free to disagree with me, take a number, stand in line...

Yes, calling upon a terrorist is extreme, which is why, as a previous poster mentioned, implies sarcasm through absurdity. You are taking it literally. One point I will grant is that nuanced conversations such as these are difficult in writing.
 
dumbledore-is-gay-lolcat.jpg

i personnaly do not care if dumbledore is gay or not, as long as he doesn't try to kiss me or 'convert' others, it's his business. as he's just a book character, even less import. as JKR was just saying that he never found 'true love' as he was gay, so be it. his sexual orientation was not important to the book or she would have emphasised it more. someone asked, she answered.

homosexuality exists in real life, so ignoring it in books is about as sensible as ignoring it in the real world. it's an abnormal lifestyle (i use abnormal= not the average, not the norm, not implying anything else, like my being born with an extra bone in my feet is abnormal) but now at least socially ascceptable. it's just not a life style i want for myself & not one i want my tax money to promote or encourage; i also do not want any taxes to go to discouraging or otherwise restricting or punishing people for being what they are. much more important stuff to worry about than this.
 
DrThunder88 said:
"Homophobia" itself is a poorly chosen term. There's no fear involved. It's an indoctrinated hatred just like any other.

If Dumbledore's sexual orientation were important to the story, then it should have been included in the books. If Dumbledore's sexual orientation were important to developing the character, it should have been brought up in discussions about writing the books, and I have to imagine sexual identity is as important to any fictional character as it is to any one of us. That it never came up is expected as the sexual content of the books is predictably low (they are for children, after all), and the sexual orientation of any given person, fictional or not, cannot simply be assumed by a casual observer. Put simply, just because the only flamer in Dumbledore's office was Fawkes, doesn't mean the big guy himself wasn't gay.

And who cares if he was? He is a great character who embodied strength, civility, knowledge, restraint, and compassion. That's what's important about his character, not his sexual orientation. I'd rather have kids read a book with a role model who is all those thing who happens to be gay than a straight character who is none of those things.
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Good post:thumbup:
 
"Yes, it's nice that gays finally got a major character in the sci-fi/fantasy universe. Until now, we had been shut out of all the major franchises. "


Another Dune-ignorant journalist.
The Baron Harkonnen was gay. It was an important part of his character and not a publicity stunt to increase sales of plastic lunchboxes.
 
honestly, the importance of dumbledore being gay as a character trait will only show its importance if she writes more about him. if she does in fact write the omnibus that contains a history of some of the older characters such as Dumbldore, ms McGonagall, and possibly prewitt or black family lines - his sexual orientation may come into play further.

the entire romance between him and Grindelwald was never explored in the book, only ultra super vaguely hinted at. should she write that story, it would explain a great deal of dumbledores underlying character. in that time period, he may not have had his characteristic composure, and the events leading to the man present in the harry potter series may have been key to understanding dumbledore himself.

it may not have been key to the plot of harry potter, but it may be key to future stories written by rowling. we will see. if nothing else is ever written, then I will say that the information is fairly unimportant, other then keeping women out of the movie scripts. without the knowledge that dumbledore is gay, theories of romances between him and women are just as likely or unlikely as theories about romances between him and men.

I like the series, and have never met the woman, so I try to think the best of her until something comes along that shows me otherwise.
 
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