What about the gay villain angle (was Re: A Gay Potter Character?)

[Kristen]

No: HPFGUIDX 178196

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "David Gunn" <tigerdlg1 at ...> 
wrote:

David Gunn: 
It could be worse, or course.  She could have told us that Tom 
Riddle was gay and that was the reason he turned to the Dark side and 
became Voldemort.

Hexicon:
But, we do get a (presumably) gay supervillain in GG.  (I'm working 
from the statement that DD "fell in love with" GG and the canon of 
their reciprocal intense friendship.)  That's the flipside of her 
revelation about DD, the "epitome of goodness."  

What do people think about the "Hitler" of the WW being gay?

Lee Kaiwen:
I get the impression that JKR is trying to show her
tolerance and support by throwing a bone to the homosexual community
while avoiding the hassle of actually have to write and defend an 
openly homosexual character. I'm torn between calling that clever or 
cowardly.

Hexicon:
Notwithstanding JKR's supposed message of tolerance (for all but 
Slytherins), I never thought we'd see an openly gay couple expressly 
portrayed as such, but I was still hoping for, as you put it, 
a "bone," such as, hmmm, Professor Flitwick saying hello to Harry 
from behind a white picket fence in Hogsmeade while playing with a 
couple of barking little krups as Florian Fortescue waves happily 
from the kitchen window while whipping up a gourmet meal.  Or, more 
importantly, prior to OOTP, I wanted to see a discreet but definite 
read-between-the-lines Remus/Sirius partnership(as in the film 
comment about the "old married couple.")  

I'm glad she stated that DD was gay, and on the whole I think it more 
brave than cowardly.  But, as another poster said, why do so many 
literary portrayals of same-sex love have to be so darn tragic?  Not 
only did DD's youthful first love involve a fascination with fascism 
and indirectly result in the death of his sister, but then he 
reluctantly had to defeat and imprison his supervillain erstwhile 
lover for the good of the WW, following which he apparently devoted 
himself to the school and students rather than pursuing a personal 
life.  Given all the straight pair bonding in the books, I wish she'd 
shown us a happy gay or lesbian couple, even if portrayed indirectly. 
That would have been brave too.