Harry's sexual preference; supporting opinions

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 78735

Evangelina:" And then, in the above post, you complain that calling
Harry gay has no canon support, while you think Ginny smiling at Harry
is enough proof that she still has a crush on him.

I'm not just saying this to be picky, I'm trying to make a point
here. :) The point being: what's the difference between straight and
gay SHIPs?? I realise that your main objection might have been against
Harry specifically being gay, but I feel I've just read one too many
posts who seem to argue that discussing the possibility of any gay
character at all is just completely out of order, has no canon to
support it, and everyone disagreeing should just "get real"."

Let's leave anti-gay prejudice out of this, which we should do.  There
is a principle of canon interpretation here: the more radical the
theory, the higher the wall of proof should be.  To take the current
examples:  

We know that Ginny had a crush on Harry, we were hit over the head
with it. There is no serious disagreement that she did, so suggesting
that she still has feelings for him is not a big step.  You can find
canon that argues this one way or the other.

If Harry is gay, that is a revolution in our understanding of Harry's
character.  I'm sure I've seen nothing in canon to make me believe it
or even consider the possibility; quite the contrary, we've seen a lot
about Harry's attraction to Cho, and he's at least noticed Hermione.
Therefore, if you want to argue that Harry is gay, you need something
very, very good in canon if you want your argument to be taken
seriously. You're making a big proposition, so you need big proof.  I
don't believe opinions are all equal – some have better, more
persuasive arguments than others.

You might answer, "Why is Harry being gay a big proposition? What's
the big deal?"  Well, it is a big deal.  Our sexual identities are a
huge part of what we are; to most of the gay people I know, it is a
central part of their identity.  Maybe it would be a better world if
it wasn't so big a deal, but it is.

This concept of "big idea/big proof" is a big concept to me, anyway. 
There's lots of theories proposed on this board and elsewhere that I
feel are absolute horsefeathers, without a shred of support for them,
and I feel about them the same way as I do about the Gay
Harry/Ron/Hermione theories. OTOH, I can accept someone saying "I have
no proof, but my gut instinct is...." or anything similar.

So, Evangeline, I think the heavier burden of proof should fall on
people with more far-reaching hypotheses.


Jim Ferer