Harry's sexual preference; supporting opinions

[evangelina839]

No: HPFGUIDX 78809

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:
> 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:
<snip Ginny example> 
> 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

Oh, but I don't support the gay Harry theory. I never said I did, either. I=
t doesn't really 
matter to me if is straight, gay or bi. Nor am I much of a SHIPper in the f=
irst place. I 
do however think it's pretty absurd that a lot of people seem to think that=
 any gay 
SHIP is completely out of question. Why would it be? I agree with anyone wh=
o states 
that it wouldn't mean anything to the storyline, but I don't see that as a =
good 
argument against why it would never happen. Personally I don't think Ginny =
dating 
Michael Corner does much for the storyline (yes I know he probably went to =
the Hog's 
Head because Ginny was his girlfriend, but he could just as well have been =
a friend of 
hers), but we find out anyway. So why not a similar mentioning of a gay rel=
ationship? 
Most SHIPs are guesses anyway, aren't they? When you say we need proof to s=
ay that 
Harry is gay, I guess you don't necessarily mean that gay SHIPs in general =
need more 
proof than straight ones, cause I don't see how that would be necessary. An=
yone 
ending up with *anyone*... is any of it really relevant to the storyline? A=
ctually the 
reason I wrote the post you are replying to, was that I read two posts from=
 the same 
person (no need to name names... ;)): first one against gay Harry, then one=
 with 
SHIPs. I guess that could have been a little unfair of me, but that's my st=
andard 
reaction to what I interpret (underline those two words three or so times, =
just to be 
sure) as double standards. I just don't see why on earth gay relationships =
have to be 
completely out of the question when we spend so much time constructing stra=
ight 
SHIPs. Because if it doesn't do much for the storyline in the first place, =
I don't see a 
reason to rule it out as it won't matter anyway.
I don't believe that Harry himself is gay though, simply because I think it=
 is sort of 
irrelevant to the storyline (although so far I think the Cho Chan thang was=
 too), and it 
seems to me that many of those who have speculated on that theory are just =
having a 
bit of fun with the idea. That was however not the subject of my post. It w=
as pro gay 
SHIPping, not much else.
Man, this turned out long.

evangelina
who has her heart in these issues and might get a little carried away ...