[HPforGrownups] Re: the gay question (longish)

[lrcjestes]

No: HPFGUIDX 4061

> All this stuff about "young" kids...is assuming that NO children
> or youth identify as lesbians or gays or EVEN that NO children
> or youth have crushes on people of the same gender. People keep
> talking as if I'm suggesting some kind of strange, foreign, weird
> topic......that is too sensitive to discuss.
>
> But crushes/dates/pairings have already been introduced. By ONLY
> introducing mixed gender pairings, JKR has made a decision to ONLY
> write about SOME pairings and NOT about others. I'm interested to
> know if that will change.


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

> 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.
>

Yes, but you see Susan, this list is not about the real world.

JKR has said many times that she will write the books as she has envisioned
the books...not to target, identify, supply role models, or pacify critics,
interest groups, or even fans.  If she mentions that Justin Finch-Fletchley
is gay at one point or other...great, if not fine....its her world not ours.
Now if you want to ask if she is going to include an order of gay characters
with a side of stronger women role models...have at it.

Just because some of us feel that asking that question is irrelevant, does
not mean we think the issue is irrelevant.  You have made so many
assumptions in the above quotes.  I am going to speak for myself only so as
not to fall into the habit you have in glittering generalizations.  First
just because I am hetero and make hetero assumptions does not mean that gays
and lesbians are invisible in "my world."   (ok as cliche'd as this
sounds...my best friend is a lesbian....honest to god).  What can I say I
want Sirius to be hetero so I can pair him up with me.... <grin>

Also just because I'm hetero does it mean that I don't realize that there
are children or youth that identify as lesbians or gays or EVEN that
children or youth have crushes on people of the same gender.  Of course
there are and they do.  I really don't think see this as strange, foreign,
or weird.  If anyone else does I doubt the inclusion of a gay/lesbian
character in the books is going to change their mind.   Maybe, maybe not.

To me its a non-issue in these books.... I think the point is that JKR has
created a world in which it is a non - issue and isn't that what we are
striving for....that the whole "ism" thing is a non-issue....by this I mean
the following:

We were introduced to Angelina Johnson  a couple of books ago.  In GoF it is
mentioned for the first time that she is black, I had not realized she was
black before that...did it matter to me, I thought in passing...hey thats
cool, but was she still the same character...yes...In other words her world
is such that there probably are gays and lesbians, but it doesn't seem to
matter to the rest of the community.  Not because its not there, but because
its there, accepted and not used to distiguish one wizard from another.

Jeez this got long...I meant it to be short and to the point, oh well....

carole