Gay Characters

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27235

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Alexandra Y. Kwan" <litalex at y...> wrote:
> 
> Perhaps they're all perfectly fine with it 
> and take it as calmly and casually as people do in...I don't know, 
Holland 
> or something.
> 
> The best way to 'properly' introduce a gay character into the mix, 
imho, 
> would be to do it as off-handedly as Cho, with her presumably 
Chinese 
> background, was introduced, as Angelina, with her African-British 
(?) 
> heritage, was introduced, etc.  If having an ethnicity other than 
the, um, 
> majority's isn't a big deal, having a sexual orientation that's not 
> mainstream shouldn't be a big deal either.
> 

I'm not sure that it would work to casually introduce a character's 
sexual orientation in the way one can casually introduce race.  Race 
is a physical trait that Harry can readily observe, of course, 
whereas sexual orientation is not immediately observable to our 
protagonist.  It would have to be revealed through dialogue or some 
sort of action, as you indicate below.


> For example, Ms. Rowling mentioned casually that Malfoy was going 
with 
> Pansy what's her name to the Yule Ball.  She could have as easily 
mentioned 
> that he was going with, um, one of the male Quidditch members on 
Slytherin 
> and Harry giving the aside joke of "Now I know why all the 
Slytherin are 
> always stuck in the practice room.  And if a gay villain isn't a 
good idea, 
> you could have, oh, Seamus Finnigan merrily going with Dean Thomas 
to the 
> Yule Ball.  And Harry could either wink and laugh, or sputter, "But 
you 
> like girls!"  If it's the latter, then you can have Seamus or Dean 
wink and 
> dismiss it easily with some joke (e.g. pinching the other's nose 
and says 
> "But just *look* at how cute he is!  How can I not!")
> 

Should introducing a gay character in the HP books, or even hinting 
at the subject, be a Big Deal?  No.  Would it be Big Deal in the 
U.S.?  Well, "Big Deal" isn't exactly right, because the correct term 
would be Commercial Kiss of Death.

The HP books in the U.S. were initially viewed as kids' books.  I 
first heard of them because my daughter's teacher read them to the 
kids in second grade.  Yes, we have all discussed how they have gone 
far beyond kids books now, and we know that JKR plans to move the 
series away from childrens' literature in future books.  But so long 
as toy stores in the U.S. are filled with little HP toys, I think a 
lot of people will continue to see them as primarily childrens' books.

In the U.S., there are unfortunately large numbers of people who are 
openly hostile to anything gay, and there are really huge numbers of 
people who are "tolerant", meaning they are willing to live and let 
live, but they don't want gay issues presented to them.  Sorry, but 
it is true.  Recall that Disney was subjected to a silly boycott for 
daring to offer health insurance to partners of its gay and lesbian 
workers.  People get even more unreasonably hysterical if they think 
their children have been "exposed" to something gay.

So if JKR came to me and said she was thinking of introducing a gay 
character, well, we'd have to go out for tea so I could explain that 
doing so would probably kill the series in the U.S.  The most she 
could probably do is have Harry just "wonder" about some character's 
orientation.  But I have a hard time (plot-wise) seeing how Harry can 
muse about this and have it in some way be relevant to the upcoming 
fight against Voldemort.  

I'll pause to note that someone posted that the books are supposed to 
be fantasy, not weighed down by heavy social issues.  I guess this is 
true in some sense.  There is certainly a great deal of talk in the 
books about themes like prejudice, etc., and certain characters are 
identified by race.  But JKR has stayed away from direct comment on 
hot-button and controversial issues of the day.  So I doubt that 
we'll see Fleur deal with an abortion or unwanted pregnancy, despite 
how important these issues are.  For me, it would be just a little 
too much information.

I hope gay issues will be regarded differently and with more 
understanding in the future, and maybe they will be.  But unless JKR 
would like to sacrifice the commercial success of HP for the purpose 
of increasing understanding and appreciation of gay issues, I think 
she has to stay 10 feet away from gay relationships.  (For what it is 
worth, I think she should also tread very lightly with various hetero 
Ships, too, because if she goes much beyond schoolyard crushes 
like "The Unexpected Task", there's gonna be trouble.)  

Cindy (who appreciates the maturity and consideration evident in the 
posts on this topic)