I am so happy. There is a gay couple in canon after all.

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 178121

 Alla:
> 
> I am afraid I do not accept the dispute, LOL. What Magpie said I 
can 
> accept if transcript turns out to have the *unrequited* part, 
> although 
> even then DD and Grindelwad can still be gays, no?

Magpie:
You mean just that Grindenwald could be gay too? Sure, I guess so. 
But "unrequited love affair" in this series seems straightforwardly 
to say that Dumbledore liked him and Grindenwald didn't like him back 
that way. If they had just had a love affair I wouldn't describe it 
that way just because Dumbledore felt more strongly than Grindenwald. 
I wouldn't call Ron/Lavender unrequited, for instance. It just seems 
like needlessly giving the wrong idea if she meant that Grindenwald 
did return his attraction but just not the level of love. He requited 
it up to a point.

Alla:
> I seem to remember one of my favorite writers ever Neil Gaiman 
> mentioning once that one of his characters in Neverwhere is gay and 
> that he did not mention it absolutely deliberately.
> 
> He did not want character to be defined by his sexual orientation, 
> maybe JKR had same rationale in mind.

Magpie:
I don't think that really applies here, just because first, he's 
Dumbledore. How could he only be defined by that? But more 
importantly, I can't see why this wouldn't be made explicit if it 
were a het romance. It would be a major motivation for some of 
Dumbledore's actions. It's one thing to leave it out if it's not 
relevant, but why present an important relationship as not being 
about that kind of love when it is? That would be important. And this 
world is so conservative and heteronormative that's even more reason 
to make it explicit, defining or not! Imo, obviously. You find time 
to plaster Sirius' walls with hot chicks and pair off students and 
adults madly, go ahead and tell us!

That said, reading it I actually did personally put in DD/GG when I 
read it. Only I thought it was requited and they had a great, heady 
romance that whole summer until it ended, you know, badly. I would 
never have left that out if I were writing the book! It wouldn't have 
taken much. I'm surprised Aberforth could keep his mouth shut. 

-m