Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

[dsdrane]

Originally Posted by u-dog

Yeah! that's the goal. I long for that day too. But in the mean time. I'm happy for that 13 year old kid because... I used to be him and I didn't get the crumb I deserved!

And the fact that we still have this situation -- no matter how much progress we may or may not have made over the years -- is what fuels my hurt-turned-anger 27 years later.

[tdogg]

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

Yeah, very Chicken Little, isn't it? And they wonder why people don't take them seriously. It reminds me of a "documentary" we were shown by our short-term fundy youth leader back in high school called "Hell's Bells" ... on the horrible dangers of Rock and Roll, including such evil and satanic artists as Billy Joel and Huey Lewis (if memory serves).

Oh yeah, I could only listen to country music (or classical) growing up, because rock & roll was of the devil. Sheesh, with the exception of some rap, have you heard anything more explicit, depressing and occasionally degrading as county/western music??? Well, I spent summers with my real mom, so I caught up on all my rock music during the summer and the day after I left home at 18 (grad nite). It was wonderful!

[TigerXero]

The following couple of posts are from a separate discussion about Dumbledore that formed before this one (but was apparently ignored for the most part T_T...). The moderators decided to merge the two.


I really can't believe no one has posted something about this, but then again, it's not really that important.

Here's a direct feed from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

Dumbledore, played by Michael Gambon, was in love with his male rival, the author of Harry Potter books says.

Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

[Pablo Rafael]

I heard this on NPR yesterday.
I am seeing and hearing more "normal" gay people becoming characters in TV, book and movies. (By "normal" I mean regular characters not the shallow stereotypical gay characters that make only brief, humorous appearances.)
And I for one ALWAYS thought Dumblefore was gay. (Aren't all the really great people?)

Excuse me, I've got to run. I hear a mob of the "straight" soulforcers gathering outside the house!

[Dumbledore]

Originally Posted by animejunkie

My homophobic family is having a fit. I believe this all to be ridiculous, how some people are reacting of course. I am more than pleased over this news on the other hand, my respect JK Rowling has just soared!

Would you like me to turn your muggle family into frogs? Stand strong!

[Jennifer5]

http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3917

[tpdncr4christ]

My mom is an elementary school librarian who promotes reading Harry Potter so much its over half of her library. She looked at me the other day and said, "Did you know Dumbledore was gay?" I looked at her in disbelief. I have since read the series again (that would be the 4th time for the whole series) and I see how Dumbledore could be gay. She didn't do as much of it as I would like, but it makes more sense, especially as seen in DH.

Anyway, my mom was smiling when she said it, kinda like she was saying "haha you won." Yeah, this is good news.

[Dumbledore]

As you know I have been receiving a lot of publicity of late. I wanted to share one article that talks about the cultural significance of my recent outing...although the clues where there all the time:

So why now, and why Dumbledore? The answer has much to do with the universe Rowling has created, in which easy assumptions about a character's motives, past, or inner life have, in book after book, been proven wrong, and with her own progressive and humane politics. It's often said that if every gay person in the world were to turn purple overnight, homophobia would disappear: In other words, fewer people would be inclined to vilify other human beings if they woke up one day and discovered that they'd been aiming stones at their college roommate, their aunt, their grocer, or their grandson. Statistics bear this out: People who have a gay family member or friend have more enlightened attitudes about homosexuality than those who don't. What Rowling has done, brilliantly, is to turn Dumbledore purple. She didn't reveal his sexuality in order to unlock a new way of reading the books, or as a provocation. She simply told the world that a main character in the best-loved books of the last 10 years is homosexual, and asked her audience to contend with it — and with the fact that it shouldn't matter. And her choice to make a beloved professor-mentor gay in a world where gay teachers are still routinely slandered as malign influences was, I am certain, no accident.

In addition to the braying of hatemongers, there's already been some umbrage taken at the appropriateness of Rowling's decision to uncork this news in front of children, a brand of sanctimony for which I have no patience. At least one out of 25 of those children will eventually self-identify as homosexual. The other 24, having made their way through an epic series that includes multiple murders, demonic possession, and the psychic toll of having mentally ill parents, will, I imagine, be able to handle the bulletin that some people are gay, and will likely benefit from the richer understanding of the world that such knowledge provides.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20154416,00.html