You know, I was wondering why no one at Hogwarts “turned out” gay. Sure, maybe Dean and Seamus, but not likely. The later books degenerated into an awkward “snogfest”, but all totally above board on the hetero front. When it eventuated that Umbridge had banned male and female students to be less than eight inches apart, I wondered what that meant for the others at Hogwarts. Yet now, all has changed in a way that affects absolutely nothing already committed to a page!
Albus Dumbledore is gay. Guess I was wrong: he isn’t human after all; he’s a horrible monster and the books that contain him must for some reason be consigned to the bin.
I would have thought that maybe Dumbledore could have found some sort of requited love in his life, but it seems this only came out anyway because the script for Half Blood Prince suggested that he had a thing for a girl in his youth. Given the totally sexless nature of all of the teachers at Hogwarts, it’s strange to consider this of Dumbledore, and it brings out another parallel with Snape, although I vouch that Dumbledore’s lack of requisition was infinitely less creepy. I’m not entirely certain that blind love for someone leads to a taste for slavery and genocide, but what would I know? I’ve never been blindly in love with someone, and therefore have not been offered the oh-so-common choices detailed above.
What does this mean, exactly? I’m not entirely sure, although unfulfilled homosexuals seem quite popular in British literature. Some people have happy endings. I’m looking at you, Alan Hollinghurst! I’m actually wondering what the wider response to this will be: redoubled efforts to burn the text? Widespread shock and horror? Or greater peace, love, and understanding? Not ruddy likely, but I think that Potter fans will applaud just about anything Rowling says.
There’s a hastily typed transcript of some pertinent questions and answers at The Leaky Cauldron. The images were done by someone called Caladan. I could have searched further afield for Harry Potter fan art than a Google Image Search, but I know how dangerous the internet is.
Plus Rowling’s answer about the goat charms was spot on.
Bonus material: I compared my coming out with a lacklustre conclusion to the Potter series.
