questions to JKR (p. the 'gay' one)

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 3933

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "milz " <absinthe at m...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Flying Ford Anglia"
> <neilward at d...> 
> wrote:
> > Pengolodh at the boards wrote:
> >  
> > >>While I am interested to know whether there will be a gay or
> > >>lesbian character in future books (being gay myself),
> > >>I do not see any requirement for it.  I do not want to
> > >>see it appear just because she is "supposed" to have a
> > >>nice gay person in there
> > 
> > Amanda replied:
> > 
> > >Thanks; I had wanted to suggest not asking this question for 
this 
> > >reason, but I couldn't quite phrase it to my satisfaction, not 
> > >wanting to offend, either.
> > 
> > I agree.  Those of us who want to can draw our own conclusions on 
> the 
> > sexual orientation of some characters, without the need for
> tokenism 
> > (hey, another -ism!). 

But what if she put two or three in -- or plans to? That would not 
necessarily be tokenism..



 I'd have to say that I rarely read books 
> > thinking "I wish they'd written a gay character into this" and, 
> > frankly, the Harry Potter series is far from the first place I
> would 
> > be looking.  It's that 'order of fries' argument again: we should 
> eat 
> > what is put in front of us (a feast, let's be honest) and not try
> to 
> > get beans on the plate instead of peas.  
> > 
> > When it comes to choosing questions to ask JKR, I support the 
view 
> > that we shouldn't be asking her to reveal every trick and plot 
> > development she has up her sleeve.  The odd leak is fun, but I'd 
> > rather have the really big secrets revealed when I have my nose 
> > buried in book 5, 6 or 7. I want to be surprised by these books,
> not 
> > think "oh yeah - I read that in an interview." 
> 


You know, folks, I'm stunned. There are endless questions about
who is involved with whom, heterosexual wise, and endless speculation,
but if we ask one single question about a lesbian or gay character, 
then we are telling her what to do, or insisting that there be one...?

Lesbian comic Kate Clinton said she came out to her brother once.
Ten years later, when she was about to have her first recording 
issued, she mentioned that she would be billed as a lesbian comic.
His response: "Don't you ever talk about anything else?"

Susan