Well, according to JK Rowling, Albus was a friend of Dorothy. Damnit, we’re everywhere…
Dumbledore Was What?!
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10 responses to “Dumbledore Was What?!”
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She should have kept her mouth shut. Dumbledore being gay adds nothing to the narrative and is only going to enrage the fundies who are already having it pulled from schools and libraries in America on charges of witchcraft. The only purpose it can serve is the one you cite, that we’re everywhere, but that’s old news.
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"She should have kept her mouth shut"? I’m disappointed in you.
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Curb your disappointment. The response to any claim to be gay, which is especially relevant in this case, is "so what?" Now the focus is going to be on "Dumble-back-dore" or other such nonsense, instead of on a seminally admirable character in a great story-telling series. His being gay has no relevance at all to the stories and only opens up another political front to the detractors. I don’t want to be known as a gay writer, are you that gay retiree?
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"His being gay has no relevance to the stories" – well, that’s your opinion; maybe Rowling thinks otherwise. She certainly seems to have posited it as an aspect to the character, which gives an additional layer to the back story. And I’m sorry, but kow-towing to detractors is a slippery slope if you ask me. I’m a retiree who is gay – yes, so what, but why should I refuse to acknowledge that fact. If, instead, some wish to view me as "that gay retiree", that’s their problem. I don’t give a toss.
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Sorry, I’m back again. Your comments continue to nag away at me. I get the feeling that you’re either saying "don’t rock the boat" or that "being gay is not an issue". If it’s the latter, then why on earth should it bother you if Rowling says something about the back story of a character? And if it’s the former, then, sorry, but clearly the boat still needs to be rocked. No one would be happier than me for the fact that someone is gay to be a non-issue, but I think that we all have a long way to go before that.
A story: last week, my niece, her husband and their 9 year-old son came to stay with us. During the week, my niece suprised me by saying that she and her husband wanted her son to see for himself how ordinary Martin and I were, because the environment outside their home was somewhat anti-gay. I was suprised because I just take it for a fact that we are "ordinary"; but also somewhat dismayed that Andy could be growing up in an environment (in the Scottish countryside) where anti-gay prejudice is still a force.
That’s why I continue to say that I am happy to be seen as gay. It’s ordinary, but until it is seen as such, I will never shut up about it. -
I take your point Geoff, and agree, the boat still needs to be rocked in certain instances. Just not in this one. As for never shutting up about it, you need to do as you see necessary. As for me, being gay is no more an issue for me than my heterosexual friends being straight, though I acknowledge that the world sees us still as different. But I am different in so many other ways, I want that celebrated too. To my way of thinking, my being gay should be a non-issue to all but the man I love. And that’s how I live my life. My best friend is a straight male who often teases me by vocally appreciating good looking women on the street. I rebut with the good looking guys. He gets it. Ordinariness. I hope that’s the message your Andy gets. And hats off to your niece for trying to get him to see it that way.
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Hmmm. Let’s see. Most days at school the kids make anti gay cracks – they use it as an insult and a limiter to many actions that boys take or things they enjoy. Its seen as a bad thing. Still.
Maybe by getting to like Dumbledore as a character first, only to discover he is a dreaded gay, will help. If they liked Dumbledore before, without even noticing he was ‘abnormal’ and a ‘gay-boy’ – maybe it will make them think. Fuck knows, something needs to. Excuse the language, I’m half way through a bottle here. -
having said that – it will for sure fire up the fundies even more, equating gays with witches and all that good stuff. Maybe Dumbledore’ds sexuality is irrelevant in a kids book – did she really need to add it? Time will tell.
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Gelert, "maybe Dumbledore’s sexuality is irrelevant in a kid’s book". Maybe it is – and let’s not forget that it is never made explicit in this case; Rowling revealed it outside of her printed words. But I’m still very glad that she did it. Whether she did it to tweak the noses of the fundies ("Let’s rock the boat") or whether she honestly does not see it as an issue ("his being gay should be a non-issue to all but the man he loved"), no-one but Rowling knows the truth.
But in the wider sense of "should sexuality be irrelevant in a kid’s book", I’m all for it being a topic; if it makes sense and a good story, then why ever not?
Another story. Many (many!) years ago I was round at a friend’s house for dinner. There were six couples, two straight and one gay. One of the straight couples had their young son with them. He was about three or four at the time. The dinner was a very al fresco affair, we sat around on sofas and the floor, eating and talking. At one point, I leaned over at kissed my boyfriend on the cheek. Instantly, the boy was galvanised – he’d never seen a man kissing another man – and he was quite visibly surpirsed and not a little shocked. His parents did the right thing and said it was very ordinary, Geoff and Brian happen to be in love, and he relaxed and dinner carried on as if nothing had happened. Which, in a way, it had. -
Oh, and I see Philip Hensher comments on the Rowling affair in today’s Guardian. I agree with his sentiments. And I had forgotten about Balthamos and Baruch, the angels in Pullman’s His Dark Materials. I wonder whether Hollywood will airbrush out the fact that they are gay?
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