Lupin as metaphor (was SHIP and RL experiences)

[susanmcgee48176]

No: HPFGUIDX 136956

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "guzuguzu" <guzuguzu at y...> 
wrote:
> Lynda first wrote:
> 
> >And Guz:  I think you may be right about Lupin being a metaphor 
for 
> >an HIV infected person.  
>  
> And Susan replied: 
> 
> > But of course the metaphor of him as a person with AIDS would 
also 
> > imply strongly that he is a gay man.
> 
> And now guz:
> 
> Susan, I hope I am not stepping out of bounds here, but I believe 
in 
> Real Life, it is a dangerous assumption that it's mostly gay men 
who 
> are infected with HIV. Surely you are not claiming that the 
millions 
> of infected people in Africa right now are all gay men?
> 
> Anyway, if we keep the metaphor in canon, Remus *was* infected by 
> someone of his own gender, Greyback. Greyback intentionally 
infected 
> Remus when he was a child, as revenge on his father. And, with many 
> people interpreting Greyback as a metaphor for a child molestor, I 
> am in no way claiming that child molestors only molest their own 
> gender, or that they are gay. I'm saying that I don't believe 
> homosexuality has any relation to what we are presented in the 
canon 
> story, nor the metaphor I was trying to explain.



Thanks for giving me the opportunity for clarification.

AIDS/HIV is indeed an epidemic in Africa amongst all kinds of folks. 

But here in the U.S. we did have quite an epidemic of gay men who 
died of HIV/AIDS. I spent time with two friends who moved away from 
San Francisco because all of their gay male friends died. The gay 
male community has mobilized and organized to promote safe sex and to 
reduce fatalities amongst their ranks (successfully). But for a long 
time, gay men were a high risk group. So in my very humble opinion, I 
think that Remus being gay and Remus having a disease connected to HIV
are both powerful metaphors and both possible.

I think there are clues in canon to support a Remus/Sirius ship, 
CERTAINLY as many as there are to support Harry and Luna, for example.
When I have time, I'll post some of them.

And of course, few people believe the antiquated and thoroughly 
discredited myth that gay people molest children....pflag.org is one 
site that has all kinds of such information.

Susan McGee