Why is everybody saying Dumbledore is gay?

Question

I come on here and suddenly people are asking why he is gay! Where did this come from? how did it start? What's going on?!

Answer 1

JK Rowling said so during an interview before a large audience at Carnegie Hall two days ago.

Does it bother you? Does it even matter?

Here's more info with at least one transcript of her comments:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=3755544&page=1

Answer 2

JK Rowling stated so at her American book signing the other day. Earlier she had contacted the director of the 6 th movie who had put a reference in to an old girlfriend for Dumbledore and ask him to remove that refernce because Dumbledore was in fact a gay man.

Answer 3

because this is how it went down:

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."

Answer 4

After being asked at a book signing in America:
"Did Dumbledore ever find true love?"
JK Rowling replied almost instantly:
"Dumbledore has always been gay"
People on Yahoo Answers have been talking about whether we think it is a publicity stunt. I only found out today as well =S

Answer 5

Accepting JK Rowling's statement that Dumbledore is gay flies in the face of most critical theory since the introduction of "New Criticism." If we are going to believe it, it must be in the text. Hemingway can say that Jake Barnes lost his penis and not his testicles, but, if he didn't support that in the text, we are free to believe as we wish. Similarly, if the Harry Potter books don't portray Dumbledore as gay then how can we just take Rowling's word for it? We can't. And JK Rowling probably should know, but she'sno better at reading her work than we are. If it's not there, it's not there.

Answer 6

The Author JK Rowling revealed this at a news conference. Apparently Dumbledore had a love interest (another wizard) when he was younger which he never got over.

Answer 7

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 8

because jk rowling had said that dumbledore was gay when a kid had asked her about if dumbledore had fallen in love. this had happened during a book tour in new york city.

Answer 9

How can an imaginary character be Gay? I think JK is projecting herself into dumbeldore. Or maybe she is going to start a series of gay genre, a love story between dumbledore and his lover Grindelwald.
I think him being gay adds some flair to his character.

Answer 10

They say that J K Rowling said that she has always seen dumbledore as being gay, but if thats true why didnt she incorporate that and any of her earlier books? I think she said it to reach out to the gay people and get them to like her books too.