the gay question (longish)

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 4044

> I think the gay question is a sensitive one, that's all. 

Yup, I think you do.

 > 
> There is a lot of speculation about romance pairings and most of it 
> is heterosexual, I agree.  With the exception of slash fic 
> discussions (we had one last Sunday in the chat room), there
> isn't much talk of Harry/Ron, Harry/Draco, Fred/Hagrid, or
> whatever, 
> I guess because it is perceived as being unlikely that JKR will 
write 
> that. 

I guess because people have the heterosexual assumption. 
Lesbians/gays, etc. are still not on people's radar -- are invisible.

 
> 
> Question: Can we expect JKR to create the ideal, egalitarian world 
we 
> *don't* have in a series of fictional stories about a school for 
> witches and wizards, centred on a boy who is barely into his teens 
> (and seen from his POV)?  No, we can't (IMO).  These are works of 
> fiction; the product of imagination.  Perhaps she will cover gay 
> issues as part of the development of Hermione's social
> conscience; perhaps she will make the next three books much more 
> adult in content and bear the brunt of criticism.  More likely, I 
> think, she won't.
> 

Who's talking about the "creation of an ideal, egalitarian world?
There are lesbian and gay youth in every high school. This is about
the REAL world. Not the world that some people would like to imagine 
it is.

Susan