Do you think that Rowling was just seeking attention when she said that Albus was gay?

Answer 1

i really dont know
but i feel that albus is a hard man
jane

Answer 2

Yes. Especially since after her pathetic attempts to prove everyone else was straight in the last book (why else would she have mentioned Sirius having bikini girl posters and given so many people horrible marriages and ill-named, worthless offspring?). This also smacks of when Ellen and Rosie came out- at a time when their respective careers were all but fading.

Answer 3

I am a bit bemused at some of the things that others have said about it, and JKR's alleged motivations.

I don't think that JKR has an agenda, or is seeking more publicity. I think it speaks to the popularity of the series and the amount of emotional energy that fans have put into the books, that it became a big story.

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

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/10...

Answer 4

I don't know. It really seems like that, because why else would it matter?
She has said that the series is over and she doesn't intend to write more about Harry after tDH, so Albus being gay really has no importance.

Answer 5

This is of absolutely no importance, just as if she would say Sirius had a secret child or Snape resurrected.
But she can say anything she wants, it is her story, they are her charcters and she can do with them whatever she wants. For me personally it was kind of stupid and unnecessary of her to say, not because I am homophobic, but because I never saw or thought about wizard's sexual preferencies in the context of the story.
But even though she does not need the extra attention it was huge and free publicity worldwide again, after the hype when the final book came out, maybe her manager suggested it.

Answer 6

Yes, and I think it was a rotten thing to do. It adds nothing good to the books and it creates an uneasy question in peoples' minds about the one man who was truly heroic in these books. I saw nothing to indicate A. D. was gay at all in these books. She has made an unfortunate bad judgment.

Answer 7

No - I think she was trying (on the spur of the moment) to create a reason to cover for a hole in her plot.

Answer 8

I think she was just trying to shock people. Or maybe just the church which had criticize her book so much.

Answer 9

No, I think she was just being honest about the character.