Rowling says Dumbledore is gay

[susanmcgee48176]

> 
> Tonks:
> I wasn't going to get into this since my POV is so different than 
> that of young people today. I have been so upset about what Rowling 
> did. As you say it was too much wine, too little sleep or a check 
> list. I add to that plain stupidity. How can an otherwise 
> intelligent woman mess this up so badly? Personally I think she 
> needs a therapist. She seems to have a problem with father figures. 
> Remember when she almost killed off Arthur? Then she said later 
that 
> she felt there need to be one good father figure left. I will bet 
> that an editor told her that. So now the books are finished and she 
> is a bit too famous... out comes the gun and bang goes her foot. 
> Self defeating behavior, if you ask me.
> 
> The reason I am so upset is 1. I love DD myself. I like to think of 
> him as possible husband material. Ya I know .. I am married to 
> Lupin.. but never mind that. and 2. To me DD is the hermit monk. He 
> is celibate. For some reason people in our society like to classify 
> people. Straight, Bi, or gay. The idea that anyone can NOT have sex 
> never seems to cross their mind!! I know many people who are 
> celibate. True, most are members of Religions orders, but it is 
> another choice. And no, they are not fridged women and gay men. 
> And 3. And this is the biggest reason I am upset:
> 
> The HP series has done what few other things have been able to do. 
> It has united people the world over. All ages, sexes, religions, 
> nationalities. Personally I don't care if someone is gay or not. I 
> don't think it is a sin against nature. That is not the issue for 
> me. The issue is that for many people in our country and certainly 
> in other parts of the world, homosexuality is a big deal. And it 
> divides people.
> 
> Rowling has taken something that is successful at bring people 
> together. Something that has people respecting the person of DD as 
> if he were a god. People remember and follow his teachings. And 
> bang.. She destroys her own work. Stupid. Just stupid. How do you 
> think this is going over in the Muslim world? Never mind the 
> conservative Christians. Now many, far too many I fear, will not 
> respect the wise old man, not listen to his teaching and not allow 
> the books in their home. This will be a sad lost. What she has done 
> is so wrong. Where was the editor to remind her?  She played into 
> the hands of American pop culture. Just stupid.
> 
> Tonks_op
>

I'm so glad people are posting their points of view.

Here's mine.

J.K. Rowling is an extremely courageous, brilliant and insightful 
woman. I've loved her books for years, and my children love them.

Although I'm not a Christian, and -- just my point of view, please 
understand -- when I think of Christianity I think of the 
Inquisition..but I don't hate Christians by any means......and I 
certainly don't mean to offend anyone, particularly J.K. Rowling. .I 
respect her religion, and feel that she has the right to practice any 
religion she pleases.

I do think she's a little naive. No, she didn't say that DD was gay 
to be "politically correct" or to check it off on a checklist. She 
naively thinks that there's nothing wrong with being a lesbian or 
being a gay man, and that the greatest wizard in the world was in 
fact gay. She has no clue the uproar her comment will bring. She has 
no clue of the level of hatred people have for lesbians and gay men, 
or the level of discrimination.
She had the outline of the books for years. She knew DD was in love 
with GG just as she knew that Snape was in love with Lily.

I couldn't believe that she was making everyone straight to appease 
the radical fundamentalist right wingers who want to stamp out civil 
liberties and deprive lesbian and gay people of the right to housing 
and employment, and I am relieved that I was right about her. Who 
cares who boycotts her books? Who cares about the right wing 
fundamentalist followers of Islam..? She herself said she was honored 
to be on the boycotted book list. The only thing I feel sad about is 
the poor children whose parents WERE boycotting the book because they 
kept saying it was about witchcraft and therefore were bad. Now 
they'll have another reason to deprive their children of the joys of 
HP.

She says the books are all about tolerance, and that there are those 
who don't like them because of that. Everyone applauds her racial 
tolerance, and gosh, there are even some strong women in the books 
(although the persistent dislike of Hermione is just plain misogyny 
in my opinion)....but if she makes the point that lesbians and gays 
are just like everyone else, well, hey, that's going too far...

The other tack people are taking is that she's doing it to get more 
publicity for the books or make more money! Unbelievable...she 
doesn't need more publicity OR more money.

Bottom line is -- JKR doesn't see anything wrong about being gay...

Susan