The Guardian reports that at a Harry Potter reading Friday night, J.K. Rowling was asked, "Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?"Rowling's response: "My truthful answer to you...I always thought of Dumbledore as gay."
She continued: Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent, but he met someone as brilliant as he was and, rather like Bellatrix, he was very drawn to this brilliant person and horribly, terribly let down by him.
Yeah, that's how I always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read-through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying, "I knew a girl once, whose hair..." I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, "Dumbledore's gay!"
Wow. We really did not see that coming. It's exciting, isn't it?
Cultural conservatives are, naturally, horrified, but (1) good luck with a boycott and (2) they have no one to blame but themselves. Since the death of Jerry Falwell, they've been asleep at the wheel when it comes to casting aspersions on the inner lives of fictional characters like Tinky Winky. And now Rowling herself has beaten them to the punch!
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 2)
16. Why do you have to attack followers of Christ in your comments? Try something worth reading, like Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg. All the anti-christians will soon face something they can't imagine--WAKE UP!
tim at 10:48PM on Oct 22nd 2007
17. Is she saying Dumbledore is a "family values" Republican, or part of the "moral majority?"
Seriously, I love anything that puts the bible-thumping hillbillies into a twist.
Dan at 11:36PM on Oct 22nd 2007
18. Ada,
You are an idiot. An outing of a fictional character is groundbreaking? It is a series of novels, not a real person. Ellen Degeneres should be laughing at you for comparing fiction to real life. Ellen was a groundbreaker worthy of notice.
John Sanchez at 11:41PM on Oct 22nd 2007
19. I was disappointed when Dumbledore was killed.
The saintly mentor and guardian of a boy cruelly
orphaned by a distinctly evil personage. I only
read book seven to see if it served a purpose.
It did not. I think this is just nervous laughter
prattle from a guilty conscience. Humanizing a hero
posthumously. And she doesn't feel guilty about killing him, just about killing him with the wrong wizard.
Bruce at 12:20AM on Oct 23rd 2007
20. That's kind of strange. I never think about old people in terms of gay or straight. In fact I don't think about most people that way. So I have to wonder why JKR would think of her fictional aging wizard as gay. It's kind of creepy, like thinking about your parents having sex. It's not something that I would put in a childrens book. I mean, who would even want to know if the Cat in the Hat was bi curious, or if Sam I Am had some kind of strange food fetish? It just doesn't work because these characters are not supposed to be sexual.
David at 3:07AM on Oct 23rd 2007
21. Just a thought, but maybe people recognizing Dumbledore as asexual and her largely presenting him in that manner, although she envisions him as homosexual is part of the point!
Why does he have to be obviously homosexual for him to be gay? Can't he be just a 'normal person' and still be gay? Isn't that what every lesbian or gay individual wants? Not to be viewed by their sexuality but by who they are as a person?
I'm overweight, and i certainly don't want to be defined by that. I'd much prefer to be defined by WHO i am, not what.
Can't he be just a normal character and also be gay? That's what it should be about....people being people because their sexuality shouldn't define him/her! And if she had made him homosexual outwardly in the stories a lot of people never would have even noticed what a great character he is because they would have been too preoccupied with an aspect of his character that didn't matter anyway.
Just a thought....her throwing this out there in this way definitely shows that stereotypes are just that....
stacy at 8:32AM on Oct 23rd 2007
22. I'm bisexual, have read all 7 books, and yes, there were some extremely vague hints at same-sex relations in the sixth and seventh novels, but nothing significant, and it wouldn't have detracted from the real point of the series. This entire series was about acceptance, love, and the power of kindness, and that's how it should remain. If the thought police opposes those ideas openly, then they will have revealed themselves as a public outreach program for the NWO.
Alaras at 9:42AM on Oct 23rd 2007
23. Really, when you get down to it, it doesn't matter. or aleast shouldn't. We are all people. That is what counts. But Dumbledore would make a great 2-3 book prequel wouldn't it? Simular to the
David Eddings' Belgarion series
mark stocks at 12:37PM on Oct 23rd 2007
24. Jesus was gay too!
Tori at 10:22AM on Oct 24th 2007