How do you feel about Dumbledore being gay?

Question

I might be the fifth person asking this but I'm curious to see what more people think.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071021/ap_en_ot/books_potter_dumbledore

Answer 1

I don't think that JKR has an agenda, or is seeking more publicity. According to the story I read, she had told the writer of the screenplay for HBP that Dumbledore was gay because there was mention of a female love interest in the screenplay and she had to set them right. Having done that, she might as well have made it public, since it would have eventually come out anyway--she could control when and how it was done. and in any case, this story came out because she was directly asked if Dumbledore loved anyone.

Throughout the series, we know Dumbledore as a tireless and seemingly single-minded fighter against Dark Wizards (at least from Harry's perspective; we do have to remember that Albus is also a great teacher, an alchemist, and important theoretical Wizard--remember the tools and instruments he made himself). But how did Albus become that way?

We learn much about this in DH, with Arianna's story, Aberforth's story and the story of the friendship between Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. In reading DH, it was clear that Grindelwald seduced Dumbledore on a number of levels; intellectually, ideologically, and, by JKR's new revelation, emotionally. We don't know if that seduction was sexual as well, and I'm not sure it is important for us to know.

The revelation completes the picture for us of a man who felt betrayed, injured by one he loved, ashamed at how far he went from rational thought and behavior, how far he really was from what he thought he was.

The up shot is that we now know more completely Dumbledore's motivations for fighting Dark Wizards--his shame at his own tangential contribution to Grindelwald's career, his reluctance to fight him, and, when Voldemort rose, his determination to not to repeat his prior mistake of inaction and to fight Voldemort from the start.

So in summery, It was part of the way JKR viewed Dumbledore and understood him. I don't think it was something that would have come out voluntarily--more likely something that would have made a scholarly article 50 or 60 years from now after she was gone and literary scholar had access to her full notes (assuming she left them to be investigated).

BTW, there is some inkling of this in DH, where Rita Skeeter talks about devoting a chapter in her book about Dumbledore to the Dumbledore/Harry relationship. This is not to say that there was anything improper--but that JKR did put out a hint.

wl

Answer 2

A lot of people I've talked to seem to believe it's a plublicity stunt but I don't think so. The woman is now one of the richest people in the world (I think if not at least her country) I don't know her personally but being a HUGE harry potter fan and watching countless interviews and reading so many things about her I don't believe her to be the kind of person to pull a plublicity stunt like this. No, when I was reading the books i did not think dumbledore was gay. but i think that's why she made no mention of it before because it's not relevant at all to the plot, it just happened to come out now because of a question from a fan (has dumbledore ever found love?) and I read another instance where the screenwriter for movie 6 made a reference to a girl that dumbledore once fancied, she had to tell him. But also thinking back it does make sense that his character would be gay...no not relevant, just makes sense.

Answer 3

I think it is about time gay people are incorporated in the mainstream popular culture, even the part of it that is addressed to kids. Imagine how many people would be *happier* if they were not raised believing that their sexual inclination is abnormal, wrong, or something along these lines.

Rawlings is brave but--quite understandably--not too daring. Dumbledore is a good compromise: he is a revered and loved character, a positive gay father-figure; on the other hand, his old age creates a safe distance from the main characters which should make him less "menacing" in the eyes of the conservative reader.

Answer 4

Rowling described the series as a "prolonged argument for tolerance," and Dumbledore's sexual orientation is a natural extension of that argument.

Whatever her motives may have been for 'outing' Dumbledore now (which may very well have been at least in part for the publicity), it is incontrovertable that the outcome of this publicity is a step forward in accepting gays and lesbians into mainstream culture, and for that, Rowling should be applauded.

I have thought about the kind of diversity that Rowling showcased throughout the series, and I thought that there could have been more solid evidence of it. Certainly one of the central moral themes was equality told through the allegory of Pure Bloods vs. Muggles and Wizards vs. other magical creatures (House Elves, Centaurs, etc.), but at the end of the day there were relatively few and somewhat minor characters who were diverse in their racial heritage: Cho was Asian, Dean and Kingsley were Black and the Parvati sisters were Indian - but all the main characters were white.

Before Dumbledore was 'outed' I had also wondered about the lives of the Hogwarts professors. None of them, it seemed, had any shadow of a life outside of the school. If any one of the characters was homosexual, I would have guessed it to be Minerva McGonagall who struck me as a caricature of real-life lesbian teachers I have known. None of the other professors (except Snape) ever had any reference to romance or marriage. It was clear enough that Sybill Trelawney had nowhere to go when she was dismissed from Hogwarts.

So I was somewhat disappointed by the one-dimensional view we received of these important characters, and pleased to learn this new fact about Dumbledore. In the last two books I thought Rowling did an excellent job of making Dumbledore a more complex, interesting character by revealing his humanity in his childhood flaws, and this last piece of information adds to his complexity and reality further.

If you ask me, "tolerance" is not good enough. A "celebration of diversity" is what the world needs now.
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Answer 5

i'm not that substantial of partial to Harry Potter, yet Dumbledore being gay would not somewhat substitute something, i don't think of it will influence the books or video clips, human beings examine/look ahead to Harry Potter, not Dumbledore. i think of she introduced it presently as she wasn't specific of the reception she would obtain. It shouldn't effect on human beings's lives, Harry Potter remember, not Dumbledore.

Answer 6

I really don't have a problem with him being gay, just the fact that she waited until after all was said and done to "out" him. Why on earth would she wait, why not make it known from the beginning. It sure wouldn't have changed my opinion of the books or movies. I just wonder if it will affect the turn out for the remaining movies?

Answer 7

I kind of fee like JK just suddenly "decided" to make Dumbledore gay. He's dead, the books are finished...why bring it out now. It ticks me off. I really wouldn't care if he was gay, if it was actually a part of the story. But its not. It seems like an afterthought to me. I don't get it, and I don't like it.

Answer 8

I have no feeling about it it is a fictional story. If it wasn't a fictional story I wouldn't care.

Personally I think any body else who asks the same question should have be blocked, banned, hit with a violation something.

Answer 9

I feel that it is great, because not enough people in the world are able to respect each other, and Dumblefore is such a great, respectable person that it shows that homosexuals are
people, too. Also, I'm excited to see what all the christian groups who think that Harry Potter premotes witchcraft are gonna do now.

Answer 10

i dont understand this, dumbledor is dead the books are done
and he was never gay
but 2 months later she says "oh yeah hes gay!"
he's NOT a real person he doesent exsist so how can we find out hes gay. if it was never written in the book he was he wasnt
im really confused!!!!!!!