A Gay Potter Character?

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 178297


> I, for one, am less than thrilled about Rowling's announcement that
> Dumbledore was gay.  First, she managed to keep him "closeted" for
> seven full books.  Hardly a hint there that he was gay.  <snip>
> 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.
> 
> David Gunn


lizzyben:

Except... she sort of... did. *debates bringing this up, throws
caution to the wind*. LV is not portrayed as heterosexual, at all.
And yeah, red-eyed noseless monster isn't going to be getting many
groupies (besides Bella), but even before that, Riddle is portrayed as
uninterested in women in any way. The famous Elkins & others wrote a
series of posts on this many years ago, examining the language that
was used to create a gay subtext in the Riddle's scenes in COS & GOF,
and how this subtext was supposed to increase the "unnatural"
"wrongness" of the scenes. 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/40118

Combine that with the reference in the interview comparing DD/GG to
Bellatrix's "sick obsession" for LV, and we're not hearing much
positive here. I think JKR had good intentions, but the way she
actually portrayed homosexuality was more as something "wrong" &
"tragic" rather than something normal or acceptable. And here, she
first made clear that DD is Machievellian & obsessed w/power, & then
reveals his orientation. Instead of all this melodrama, why couldn't
she just show Hagrid & Slughorn shacking up together, or have an
undeniably *good* gay character like Lupin or McGonegal? As is, the
surface message of tolerance is undercut by a subtext that still
presents homosexuality as "wrong".


lizzyben