Dumbledore was G-A-Y!! Shock Horror!!

Cool. Thanks CM.

So, on to the subject at hand, likewise, I never got from the series that DD was gay. And, maybe things are different in Britain, but I'd thought that with about a third of my friends being gay or bi, I'd have spotted at least one tell about Dumbledore. But I didn't. Not once.

Personally I think it was probably a late-game publicity stunt by Rowling to get a third wave of readers, and maybe get one of her characters to become a pop icon in the gay community (a still largely untapped market) that could sell some more Harry Potter merch. If she really wanted to make a statement about equal treatment, etc, she might have done a better job by making it clear from the outset, or at least less like just arbitrarily picking a character and proclaiming him gay. I mean, as it stands, she could have just as easily have picked Voldemort, or Hagrid, or Sirius Black, after the fact and there'd be just as much in-book evidence (or rather, lack thereof).

Well, since DD is the school's headmaster I'm sure he'd need to be as closeted as possible so he wouldn't show any outward signs or tells. I'm sure it would cause just as much as an uproar in the fantasy world of Harry Potter's as it does out here in RL. Can you imagine the board meeting in which DD is removed from his position and blacklisted from wizardry?

Sad.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Well, since DD is the school's headmaster I'm sure he'd need to be as closeted as possible so he wouldn't show any outward signs or tells. I'm sure it would cause just as much as an uproar in the fantasy world of Harry Potter's as it does out here in RL. Can you imagine the board meeting in which DD is removed from his position and blacklisted from wizardry?

Sad.

I don't know, that's a good question. Maybe that's why the Ministry of Magic had really had it in for DD, and the whole "fear of taking over the ministry" thing was just a ruse to get more people on Fudge's side.

I'd never really given it much thought, but it's odd. Rowling never really went much into "mundane" political issues in the Wizarding World. It always seemed like there were too many other concerns. One's sexual preference would seem to me more of a "muggle concern" rather than a wizarding one, because wizarding simply provided too many unique ethical/moral problems of its own

For instance, the treatment of purebloods vs. squibs, halfbloods, etc...). It seemed like this was the Wizarding world's equivalent of racism. No one really cared if Shacklebolt was black, for instance. Muggles might have cared, but in the WW, what mattered was whether or not both his parents were Wizards.

So I would think whether or not someone was gay would be a Muggle concern, and perhaps in the WW, the equivalent would be... I dunno... like...whether or not someone shacked up with non-humans... like for instance, Hagrid was something of a controversial figure. Half-giant. That whole giant v human sexual preference was probably a HUGE deal for his parents to have to deal with.

I dunno... it just doesn't seem to fit in with the mythos that it would have been a problem for DD.

Originally posted by thelibra
like for instance, Hagrid was something of a controversial figure. Half-giant. That whole giant v human sexual preference was probably a HUGE deal for his parents to have to deal with.

Not to mention the biology of it. It's almost scary to think about.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Not to mention the biology of it. It's almost scary to think about.

I can only think his mother had to have been the giant. The other way around is incomprehensible.

reply to post by thelibra


Even still, that's a hell of a trip for daddy to take.

Anyway. I think I've had enough of mystical sex lives. Can't we just enjoy the story and not think too much about what's happening in the background?

Yargh! I'll drink to that.

You know... I have it on good authority there's going to be an 8th book. Hogwarts has, in the last 20-something years, gone pretty far downhill, and Harry is asked to come back to Hogwarts and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, where he must take a class of degenerates and losers, and turn them into a class of "O" students.

It's called "Welcome Back Potter"

(rimshot).

reply to post by thelibra


If Antonio Banderas is playing potter and he uses dance as a medium of instruction it will be a sure fire hit!

Monkey

I agree with the fact that it's dumb.
Never once in any of the seven books did i think that Dumbledore was gay.
His character was a very caring one. end of story.

I think this is publicity rubbish. She is just trying to sell more books and get people re-read the old ones looking for signs of this alleged secret life of Albus.
If she was going to make a professor gay it would have been less of a stretch to claim it of Mcgonegal, she had that stern spinster librarian vibe going on...

Anyway.. it doesn't really matter. The books were what they were and this doesn't really affect how much I enjoyed them in any fashion. Just something for people to get fired up about. :shk:

reply to post by thelibra

lmao I sooo love that idea.
Someone should really write spoof, it would be brilliant if the right person took on the job of writing it.

Without a good writer though the idea would flop.

[edit on 19-8-2008 by NephraTari]

Well, I don't care.

But as for Hagrid, it is stated that his father was human. It was his mother who was the giant. So... I'm just wondering what his father was packing to please a giantess...

I love that JKR has come out with this, it is just one more step in bringing light to the world and having a good laugh at the ultra conservatives to boot!