One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[delwynmarch]

Katie wrote:
> I know you are not in the States, but the 
> city I live in is very gay - we have entire 
> neighborhoods that are dominated by gay couples, 
> gay clubs, and restaurants and bars owned by 
> gay people.

Del replies:
Ah bah you're cheating then ;-) :-P Mind you, 
that would explain why homosexuality isn't such a
controversial subject in your neck of the woods.

But anyway, I guess I should have made that "you" 
a more general you, huh?

> In addition, I don't need anyone to go 
> along with my opinions to keep the peace. 
> I enjoy a good debate. 

I do too, but unfortunately, not everyone 
does. It's almost a rule for me, in real life,
to avoid debates at all costs, because there 
is almost always someone around willing to jump 
down the throat of anyone who doesn't agree with 
them. Especially on such "loaded" matters as 
homosexuality.

>   Although I wish you hadn't called my scenario 
> "stupid". I was purposely being ridiculous and 
> *trying* to be funny! : )

Oops, sorry! Projection on my part: some people on
MAIN and/or OTC have argued that JKR couldn't 
possibly have revealed DD's gayness, even if she 
had wanted to, because it couldn't be done without 
it being jarring, and they *seriously* used such 
scenarios to illustrate it. I just assumed that 
you were one of them. My bad.

> It's true that they are too young to have read 
> Potter yet, but I certainly don't plan to open 
> my first reading of it to them by saying, 
> "Mommy's going to read Harry Potter to you now, 
> and by the way, before we begin, Dumbledore is 
> gay like grandpa." It's just not necessary for 
> a reading of the book. As you and I agree, 
> there is no reference to gayness in the books, 
> so why bother with it?

I was seeing things from the other way around: 
the parents of kids who have already read HP, and 
who now learn that DD is gay. If homosexuality is 
an issue for those parents, then this outing of DD
has put them into "damage control" mode without 
any advance warning.

> I have plenty of other opportunities to 
> discuss gayness with them. HP does not need to 
> be the platform. 

Precisely! There are parents out there who don't 
appreciate being put on the spot of having to 
discuss gayness here and now with their kids, by 
JKR outing DD out of the blue. If JKR had written 
DD as gay, those parents could have chosen 
whether and when to let their kids read HP, and 
they would have been able to plan a discussion on
homosexuality. Instead, out of the blue, they 
find themselves *having* to have that discussion 
*right now*. I can understand that they are pissed.

Del