One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[delwynmarch]

Katie wrote:
> Well, I did [think that homosexuality is less 
> controversial than witchcraft]. Until recently. 

Del replies:
I guess you fell for the false impression that most 
people don't have any problem with homosexuality.
The truth is, though, that most people who do have 
a problem with homosexuality won't SAY so in public,
most of the time, because they don't want to be 
verbally attacked, ridiculed, or even slandered. So 
they keep their opinions to themselves, and only 
expose them anonymously and/or in private. This all 
gives an overall impression that most people don't 
have a problem with homosexuality, when in fact 
quite a lot of people do, but don't say so. I think 
you'd be surprised to realise just how many people 
around you, in your real life, only pretend to go 
along with your opinions.

> I just don't think that she was deliberately 
> creating books that excluded homosexuality.

Did they include homosexuality? No.
To be realistic, should they have included 
homosexuality? Yes.

The conclusion is inescapable.

> Just because it wasn't relevant to the plot 
> doesn't mean it was deliberately excluded or 
> that JKR created a strictly heterosexual WW.

Was the absence of racism relevant to the plot? 
No. Then why did JKR go out of her way to point 
out that there is no racism in the WW?

And she DID create a strictly heterosexual WW. 
Intentionally or not is the question, but the 
fact itself is hardly disputable. 

>  Personally, I would have felt it would have 
> been horribly awkward and unnessessary if DD 
> had suddenly turned to Harry while discussing 
> Voldemort and said, "By the way, Harry, I'm 
> gay. Just wanted to mention it. So, about 
> that prophecy..." : ) I mean, it just didn't 
> matter to the story. 

I don't understand why people insist on creating 
such stupid scenarios to somehow "prove" that JKR
couldn't include homosexuality in her books. She 
had plenty of opportunities to discreetly inject 
some homosexuality in her books, just like she 
discreetly injected different races. Those couples 
kissing in the rosebushes, why couldn't one of them 
be a same-sex one? Those students asking Harry to 
the Yule Ball, why couldn't one of them be a boy?
Heck, why not have Ginny date a girl in-between 
two boys? As for DD: would it have been so 
amazingly awkward to have him simply admit that 
he loved GG, when he's discussing it all with 
Harry in King's Cross? No need to make a big deal 
of it, just mention it in passing.

> Ok. Why are you being so sarcastic? I am trying 
> so, so hard to keep this discussion reasonable 
> and about the books. Can we just please tone 
> down the sarcasm and take a deep breath? Please?

I actually was not being sarcastic this time, I was 
being dead serious. I was giving very serious reasons 
why some people, right now, are pretty upset by the 
whole "DD is gay" thing.

> My point there was, and I was really only 
> considering adults, not kids, that if you choose 
> to ignore JKR's comments, you can.

That's true of adults who don't have kids who read 
HP and who have heard about the gay comments. As 
much as parents might manage to "forget" about it, 
they can't just tell their kids to forget about it 
too: they have to deal with it, even if they don't 
want to.

Del