Being Gay in HP/Pathetic Muggleborns (was:Canon citation requested...

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 178500

> >>Magpie:
> > <snip>
> > It's still interesting to me that there seems to be 
> > certainly special considerations when it comes to Dumbledore and 
> > perhaps other gay couples if they do exist that we've got a very 
> > long list of characters we see showing straight attraction or    
> > being in straight relationships but with Dumbledore it's not part 
> > of his character (the way being straight is to many characters)   
> > or not relevent to his story the way similar straight            
> > infatuations are.

> >>Alla:
> I am sure I have already said it, but I want to hear your thoughts 
> on it, so I will say it again.
> 
> To me Dumbledore being gay illuminates several things in the story, 
> which was repeated as well, so I will not say it, BUT I also see 
> perfect story line logical reason of why she did not disclose his 
> sexuality at all.
> 
> That is because **NONE** of the teachers' orientation is disclosed. 
> Why should Dumbledore get special treatment indeed?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Not Magpie, obviously, but this is as good a place as any to jump in 
I think. <g>  We do, actually, get some hints about various teachers' 
orientation.  Trelawny is shown to be quite interested in Lupin.  
It's background and jokey, but it's there.  Just as we get background 
make-out sessions between straight couples at the school.

So yeah, it changes nothing, IMO, that outside of canon JKR made 
her "big" announcement regarding Dumbledore.  If a gay kid reads the 
books ten years from now, he'll not get any indication that 
homosexuality is accepted in the WW.  If anything, the WW comes 
across as more strictly straight than the Muggleworld, what with 
their old fashioned views and the gay jokes made by the "good guys".

Harry strikes me as quite gay in point of fact (he's the one noticing 
Grindlewald's golden locks and stunning good looks, for example) but 
he's also very firmly in the closet, safely married with children by 
series end.  So I wouldn't call the Potterverse particularly friendly 
to homosexuality.  JKR's announcement doesn't change my view on that. 

> >>Carol, rather inclined to agree with Del that the Muggle-born    
> beggars in Diagon Alley are "pathetic," and not in the sense of     
> inspiring pathos, but not wanting to feel that way

Betsy Hp:
I totally agree.  I mean, it's not even been a year and they're 
reduced to *begging*?!?  From the very folks who took their wands 
from them?  It felt rather forced to me and I found myself rolling my 
eyes rather than feeling any sort of pathos.

> >>Miles:
> <snip>
> I do not like to compare anything to Nazi crimes, but what we read 
> about the treatment of muggleborns in DH is very similar to the    
> treatment of German Jews before the war.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Yeah, JKR laid the comparisons on incredibly thick.  (Too thick, 
IMO.)  But it's the speed of the muggleborns fall, the speed of the 
Death Eaters rise, and the utter lack of a viable underground 
movement that left me cold.  It felt forced and fake to me.  So it 
didn't effect me the way I think JKR hoped it would.  Instead I saw 
yet more reason Muggles totally beat wizards down cold. (Yay Muggles! 
<bg>)

Betsy Hp