One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[delwynmarch]

Celoneth wrote:
> What I was asking for was a legitimate  reason 
> based  on why its bad for there to be gay 
> character in a book not one based on
> fear/prejudice/ignorance.

Del replies:
I don't think I was arguing that there shouldn't be 
gay characters in books. What I was arguing was more 
along the lines of: people should be given the 
choice to read or not a book in which a character is 
gay. They shouldn't be lured into thinking that no 
character in a book is gay (and even less so in a 
7-book long series of books!), only to be told in 
an after-book interview that one of the main 
characters is indeed gay.

> You say that there are reason for people being in 
> a tiff about DD being gay that aren't related to 
> prejudice or ignorance - I've yet to hear one of 
> those reasons.

Let's take the most basic and common one: because 
they believe that God condemns homosexuality. 
Consequently, they don't want a good guy in a book 
(especially the one called "the epitome of goodness" 
by the author) to have that "flaw" and not be 
condemned for it. Isn't that your natural reaction 
too? Don't you too think that good guys in pieces of 
fiction shouldn't have deep moral flaws? Please note 
that I'm not asking you whether you agree or not that 
homosexuality is a deep moral flaw: what I'm asking 
you is how you would feel in their place.

> But what about the racist who picks up the first 
> book and doesn't know that there will be race 
> mixing - shouldn't they be warned that such a
> thing is in the books so they can avoid reading 
> it? Won't they be horribly offended and upset that 
> they picked up a book and it had a viewpoint they 
> disagree with? 

You are not being reasonable, as the two situations 
don't even come close to comparing.

On the one hand: a racist who picks up the first 
book, and quickly discovers that that book doesn't 
support racism. Cost of the whole operation: one 
book bought, a few dozen pages read, very little 
time spent, very little emotional involvement.

On the other hand: someone who doesn't like 
homosexuality. They go through the whole 7 books, 
and no mention of any other sexuality but 
heterosexuality is ever made. And then the author 
reveals that one major character is gay. Cost of 
the operation: 7 books bought, thousands of pages 
read, loads of time spent, high emotional 
involvement. 

That's just not comparable.

If you prefer: JKR has always been upfront, right 
from the first book, that she's against racism. But 
she has NEVER shown, in any way or shape, that she 
supported homosexuality - never until that 
interview. That's honesty vs dishonesty, quite 
simply, IMO.

> I don't think readers have a right not to be
> confronted with an issue they don't like when 
> they pick up a book.

Except that they were NOT confronted with it *when 
they picked up the book*. It's JKR who directly 
confronted them with it in an interview. Big 
difference.

> Why would she have to show that gay people exist? 
> Witches and wizards are humans, some humans are 
> gay therefore logically some witches and wizards 
> are gay.

Faulty logic, sorry. Orange cats are animals, some 
animals are grey, therefore some orange cats are 
grey. Doesn't compute.

Yes wizards and witches are human beings, but 
nowhere does it say that they can also be gay. For 
all we know, the wizard gene prevents the gay gene 
(if you believe in a gay gene) from expressing 
itself or vice versa. And the WW presented in 
the Potterverse is STRICTLY heterosexual.

> DD being gay is relevant to his character and if 
> she revealed it before DH it could have spoiled 
> things,

Then why not reveal it right there in DH? Plenty of 
opportunities for that. All that was missing was 
the will.

> she never said he was straight either. 

No, but by making *everyone else* straight, she 
implied that DD was either straight or asexual.

> But given the plot - why would there be any 
> mention of it? We see DD only as a headmaster in 
> his role as headmaster/professor - we have no
> mention of his personal life until DH. 

DH, in which this part of his life is STILL not 
mentioned...

And what about other characters? Why not have some 
classmates of Harry's turn out to be gay? Not 
necessarily anything big or in-your-face, just 
something Harry notices in passing. Something to 
say "there ARE gay wizards, even though all the 
main characters so far have appeared to be straight".

> I never quoted the Bible, someone else must have

Oops, sorry about that! *blush*

Del