Friday, October 26, 2007

(Big Gay Al)bus Dumbledore*

Well, by now you have heard that JK Rowling revealed that Dumbledore is gay. I read a great opinion piece by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald yesterday that pretty much summed it up for me. One of the girls he spoke with said “it’s an extra detail about him that I would like to know”. I don’t think people are going to start referring to him as “the headmaster, you know, the gay guy”. No, he’s still Dumbledore, loved and respected by millions.

That’s basically how I feel about it too. It doesn’t change how I feel about the character. I still like him – you don’t define people by their race, religion, sex, or culture, why would you define someone by their sexual preference? For some reason in this “enlightened” day and age that is exactly what people do. I never understood why so many people changed their views of someone because they found out that person was gay - if that person didn’t have sex in public as a “straight” person, why do you think they’d suddenly be having sex in public now that you know they’re gay? The person is not different, just your view of them. Maybe “outing” Dumbledore will turn out to be a tool to teach tolerance and respect of individual differences. We don’t all love to watch football, knit, play bingo, whatever. Each one of us is different. We’re not defined by those differences, but we should respect and embrace them because they are part of who we are.

*Hey, I got to reference South Park and Harry Potter in the same phrase!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What I don't understand is this. As I child I never (and actually still don't) read books with an eye toward what underlying sexuality each character possessed. It didn't then, nor now, color my enjoyment of a good novel in any way. I really don't get the "why" Dumbledore needed to be "outed". I don't get the "why" it should be an issue at all. He's not real, after all. Don't we have more important things to get our skivvies in a knot over? I'm just sayin'.

Patti (@TheLoveJunkee) said...

My point exactly. Someone asked if he will find true love. She said he already did. If his true love would have been a woman it wouldn't have even made the news. People need to get over it.

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