Rules of Rich People

1. There is no such thing as too rich

I thought the movie director forced her to out him .

Yeah I was reading one of the AP articles about this and apparently the Screenwriter for the next movie was going to have Dumbledore reminiss (SP??) about a girl he once knew and JK had to tell them that um...Dumbledore is gay.

Now I don't understand why Dumbledore's sexuality is important to the story arc. Far as I can tell aside from Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, & Hagrid, NONE of the Hogwart's staff's personal relationships are discussed.

The kids don't see the teachers that way. I mean I don't know about anyone else, but I never thought about my school teachers gettin' busy....

Seems extraneous and irrelevant information to me....

Link from Leaky Cauldron: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/

From transcript of question at Carnegie Hall:
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... [laughter]. I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter,"Dumbledore's gay!"

"No one else's sexuality is even mentioned"

Others' sexuality is indeed mentioned. Did you forget Harry's first kiss with Chloe and his attraction (and eventual marriage) to Ginny. Did you forget the myriad of other characters in their relationships? How about Snape's attraction and love of Harry's mother? No one talks about those because they're heterosexual attractions and relationships.

The only real thing the revelation of Dumbledore's sexuality does is further explain what was going on between him and Griswald. It makes much more sense now.

Considering the amount of foreshadowing she has in her writing, I postulate she knew the characters motivations long before she penned the books. Now that the books are finished and most of the fans have read them all, she can speak more freely about storyline elements not explicitly stated in the books.

After looking back on how things happened, I'm pretty certain she knew his orientation before at least the final book. Considering the hallows introduction much earlier in the storyline, she probably had those elements in place from the beginning.

So, there are two possibilities: 1) she's doing it for sensationalism, or 2) it came out due to the movie writers contradictions with her characters and people wondering why Dumbledore waited so long to go after such an evil wizard.

I go with the latter. The HP series is cemented as a classic story. She has nothing to gain from this and will likely get more death threats from fundamentalists.

Its actually a clever ploy for the advancement of gay rights.

Thousands of people admired Dumbledore for his leadership, skill, devotion. Dumbledore was admired by almost everyone who read the books, he is their hero, idol and father-figure. It was an image that was carefully constructed to win over the bible thumpers who think that the series was evil because it had to do with something outside their narrow comfort zone.

As for JKR not bringing it up in the books... it was there in context, and allusion. Why else would Dumbledoor trust Hargid, who he knows is a bit loose in the tongue, with several secret missions? And why did Hagrid have his own little cottage on the grounds and not live in the castle proper?

All throughout the books it builds the image of Dumbledore as a hero who has accomplished many great things in his life, and making the sacrifice of his life for the greater good. Every word and action on the surface make him into an almost flawless character, someone to be admired and respected. Yet once you read beyond the printed words you see that he was as normal as the rest of us.

With the formal admission that Dumbledore is gay, JKR launches a large mental pill for people to swallow. She has taken characters that you admire and respect and placed something uncomfortable about them. So people are left to their own devises to figure out what to do about this information. A majority of people will simply accept this fact and move on with their lives. Some people, myself included, feel that it was about time she admitted it, and then you have the left over few. Those who could barely read the book, thinking that their souls were in mortal danger. Yes, your soul is in danger, its in danger of being expanded and having to accept that things are not as simple you would like them to be.

Gay love has been an integral part of human history for a larger protion of the time frame than the bible. Its a part of our society, and it was only recently (in historical terms) that it was forced underground. The gay rights movement has lacked one thing over the years, a figurehead which shows everyone that its not evil, just different. I congratulate JKR on her courage and wisdom for making the formal announcement after the books have been completed. Putting such a mental pill into the minds of the narrow minded will give them something tho choke on for a while.

I don't view it as a clever ploy for the advancement of sexual orientation rights at all. People turn things into what they want, and that movement may well try to use Dumbledore as a figurehead.
Until Rowling claims that was what she intended, I will go with the safest assumption that she crafted her characters and world and told a story with an astonishing amount of depth.

Oh yea, I should also mention that there's plenty of evidence that Hagrid was not homosexual.

Art imitates life. Life imitates art. (literature=art form) sexuality will show up in both, and children are exposed to it both inside and outside of art. When writers imagine characters of course they need to think of all aspects of the character, and their relationships with other characters in the book.
Of course the whole fuss about it is rather silly, did it really need to make international news (almost) headlines?

I for one am happy to see J K Rowling stirring the pot again and upsetting fundamentalist Christians... These kooks were miffed before because they thought people were going to become Wiccans from reading the book, and now they are worried that people might want to adopt a gay lifestyle to become a great wizard (?!)

I imagine JKR has enough money at this point, so I don't think that's her motivation... (so I disagree with ZMAN).

And JKR may be thinking of equal rights as well as she does defend muggles and house elves throughout the series...

My 0.02

While I think this is a publicity stunt to a degree, I don't care. And I'm not sure why it matters that it's in a children's book. I heard a comment on a news program where a woman was wondering how on earth people could teach their kids about homosexuality at such a young age? Easy, tell them that some boys like boys and some girls like girls, and adjust that statement for the age they're at. Homosexuality isn't wrong and if we're just honest about it with kids then it'll never be an issue.

Chris, just found this article and thought you'd appreciate it Dumbledore Tattoo!