Harry the Gay Wizard

[Deirdre F Woodward]

No: HPFGUIDX 78917

Entropy wrote:

>Being a straight young woman, I have to admit >that the idea
>that Harry is gay never really occurred to me. >Frankly, I don't care
>one way or the other, but more to the point, I >just don't see any real
>proof of it.

Me:

I've been following this thread for a while too, and I think someone already
said much this point, much more eloquently, but I think it bears repeating:

Whether or not Harry is *actually* gay is beside the point (well, maybe not
to the handful of people who are truly convinced he is gay).

That those of us who are straight don't necessarily see any support for
Harry's being gay, that's because we are reading the book the way we read
the world -- we *expect* people to be straight, like us.  I can't tell you
the number of gay people I've met that I still say "really?  I never would
have guessed!."  So straighties like me not seeing Harry as gay is no big
surprise.

But someone who reads the world through a different lens, who doesn't
presume to know the sexual orientation of a person (like most straight
people do), Harry sends out some pretty interesting signals. Granted, a lot
of the posts on this topic theorize a gay reading of the text that doesn't
necessarily extend to Harry himself, but still, being able to imagine
without a definitive "No!" the possibility that a young male hero, admired
and loved the world over by children and adults, is gay -- that's quite a
coup for the 10%.

Totally off topic:  anyone else hear about the Episcopal church in Maryland
that is protesting the hiring of a gay man as bishop?  To protest, they've
draped their entire church in  . . . wait for it!  . . . purple!  The color
of mourning in the Christian church, they said, apparently *totally* unaware
of purple's other association:  the color of gay rights.

Deirdre
Eight of Eight

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