The gay question

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 4059

Hi --

Sheryll Townsend wrote:

> My second point is that, although there are GLBT (let's not forget the
> B & T in this one) youth in every high school (my daughter's school
> included), it is pretty unusual for these teens to come out at the
> age of 14 or so. There is still a large part of society that provides
> negative feedback to these teens and having to deal with facing your
> parents on this issue while dealing all the other teen problems can be
>
> fairly daunting. In my experience, most teens don't come out until
> later in  their teens.

Ah!  Not only can I anticipate Susan's response, but I must say I agree
with her on this one.  The above is *exactly* the reason *why* Susan
feels so strongly that JKR should put out a positive gay role model for
these kids.  A positive gay role model in a popular series like HP would
go miles toward making those kids feel less stigmatized & abnormal; they
would feel better about themselves and perhaps not make the decision to
remain "in the closet" (or whatever phrase you happen to use).  I do
very much agree with Susan on this point.

I also meant to say in my missive on this subject yesterday that I also
agree that JKR has the "bully pulpit" so to speak -- she could really
influence several generations of readers if she chooses.  She has said
in seveal interviews that she cannot abide intolerance in any form, and
you can see that she is addressing that in her own way in the HP books.
I personally think there's no real harm in asking her whether any of the
characters will be portrayed as gay, as a positive role model for gay
young adults.  It's possible she hasn't really considered that angle &
might be influenced by the question.

It's also possible that, as Neil said, she hasn't really planned to
include that particular issue in the books and won't deviate to do so.
I agree with Neil that HP is *her* fictional world (& not necessarily an
accurate reflection of the real world), *but* she is addressing social
issues within the context of that fictional world.  So, it doesn't seem
wholly unreasonable to me that she might choose to address this
particular social issue.

Like I said yesterday though, she can't effectively make Harry, Hermione
or Ron gay at this stage, and so any gay character that she might
introduce (or reveal as gay) would be necessarily not a "major
character" really.  That's why I'd rather see her tackle that issue in a
broader form -- something along the elf rights crusade or the mudbloods
versus purebloods issue.

Just my 2 galleons for the day on this "sensitive" topic --

Penny



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