J.K. Rowling Outs Dumbledore

[Freshman88]

No, but the Harry Potter books have a message of tolerance, seeing past social and societal sterotypes and into the heart of that person. She’s always envisioned Dumbledore as gay, I applaud her.

Being fallen beings, we all suffer from sin, but we should never applaud any state of sin - being prone to outbursts of anger (temper) is not praiseworthy, and neither should being prone to commiting horrendous acts against the natural law (homosexuality).
Sin cannot be tolerated. All homosexual acts are sinful.

Pray for homosexuals, don’t applaud their misfortune.

 

[Freshman88]

Star Trek is read by children as well. If we never let them know that gay people exist then we are keeping them in a fantasy world.

I’m worried that it may present homosexuality as okay. It isn’t, homosexual acts are grave sins.

I

 

[1ke]

Star Trek is read by children as well. If we never let them know that gay people exist then we are keeping them in a fantasy world.

Star Trek isn’t written for children, although some children may have permissive parents who allow them to read it.

“Potter” is specifically written *for *children, supposedly.

There is a difference.

And children, during the latency period before puberty, should not be exposed to any sexual material or ideas, including the idea of homosexuality.

 

[Elric]

Does anybody think Dumbledore has an existence outside of the pages of the books?

Well he did just rent my spare room

I think that changing or adding characteristics to a character after the author has written the book/series would be quite annoying for readers. You already have an idea about the character that could very well make them one of your favorites and then the author off handidly stated “Oh by the way, that character is gay” or “That character always speaks with a lisp” even though there is no mention of this in the book. It would possibly make me stop reading the book/series out of annoyance.

I dont think that Ms Rowling always intended the character to be gay, otherwise it would appear that she did a terrible job of portraying that in her series. It looks as though its more of a publicity thing.

 

[musicgal4jesus]

Well he did just rent my spare room

I think that changing or adding characteristics to a character after the author has written the book/series would be quite annoying for readers. You already have an idea about the character that could very well make them one of your favorites and then the author off handidly stated “Oh by the way, that character is gay” or “That character always speaks with a lisp” even though there is no mention of this in the book. It would possibly make me stop reading the book/series out of annoyance.

I dont think that Ms Rowling always intended the character to be gay, otherwise it would appear that she did a terrible job of portraying that in her series.** It looks as though its more of a publicity thing.**

My emphasis- I totally agree with you.

 

[Brenda_V]

Does anybody think Dumbledore has an existence outside of the pages of the books?

You mean they’re not real??? And I justbought a Phoexix feather core wand off E-Bay!

 

[aj830]

Pretty much this is J.K. Rowling’s attempt at drawing controversy around her books. Her books are commercial fiction and will be forgotten in the future. Sure, they will be a popular children’s series in the future, not unlike the Hardy Boys or those Brian Jacques books with the animals, but they will never be taken as serious literature. Will there ever be a class at a university on the series? No, because it is not a lasting piece of fiction. Rowling shows her inexperience by making a move like this. Most authors would just leave it to the readers to decide this matter but when asked a question about something else she feels the need to blurt this out at a press conference. All she is really doing is hurting her biggest audience, children, because parents who wouldn’t let their children read these books before CERTAINLY will not let them read it now.

I don’t know what J.K. Rowling had rolling around in her head, but this is a dumb idea sales wise and reputation wise.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

Pretty much this is J.K. Rowling’s attempt at drawing controversy around her books. Her books are commercial fiction and will be forgotten in the future. Sure, they will be a popular children’s series in the future, not unlike the Hardy Boys or those Brian Jacques books with the animals, but they will never be taken as serious literature. ** Will there ever be a class at a university on the series? ** No, because it is not a lasting piece of fiction. Rowling shows her inexperience by making a move like this. Most authors would just leave it to the readers to decide this matter but when asked a question about something else she feels the need to blurt this out at a press conference. All she is really doing is hurting her biggest audience, children, because parents who wouldn’t let their children read these books before CERTAINLY will not let them read it now.

I don’t know what J.K. Rowling had rolling around in her head, but this is a dumb idea sales wise and reputation wise.

Actually, most universities have some sort of Harry Potter class. Mine has 3- Ethics of Harry Potter, the Literary Tradition of Harry Potter, and Intro to Harry Potter and Literary Criticism

 

[KCtheMommy]

Star Trek isn’t written for children, although some children may have permissive parents who allow them to read it.

“Potter” is specifically written *for *children, supposedly.

There is a difference.

And children, during the latency period before puberty, should not be exposed to any sexual material or ideas, including the idea of homosexuality.

And outside of some teenage kissing and a marriage of two unlikely characters – sexuality is NOT addressed.

 

[Jestocost]

Exactly the reactions you would expect. Those who already hated the Harry Potter series see this as confirmation of what they already thought. Those who like it see it as no big deal. As has been pointed out multiple times here, there really isn’t much troubling here, but suppose there was? Even if she had been saying that a character was openly gay in the books, that is just something I would need to discuss with my kids when they are old enough to read them. This is hardly the only place they are likely to encounter it.

Ms Rowlings is not Catholic. Therefore her views on things will not conform perfectly with Catholic teaching. Even if she was a fully orthodox Catholic, chances are her books would still contain characters of varying degrees of immorality, just like the real world. It would take a powerfully talented writer to make a fictional book interesting in which every character was perfectly saintly.

But what of those kids whose parents aren’t as involved with their children’s reading and entertainment choices? I hope as many of them as possible get ahold of the HP books. Whatever negatives there may be about them there are also many positives. I used to do some work for the cable company. I’ve seen many a child too young for HP in my opinion watching Jerry Springer w/ their mom.

 

[Brigadier]

Who says Dumbledore was celibate? It never said in the book that he was a homosexual, and it certainly never said he was celibate either. There are a lot of assumptions being made here.

Like it or not, these are Rowling’s characters and if she says that one or a hundred are homosexuals, then that is exactly what they are. Just because these things aren’t written directly into the books, doesn’t mean there aren’t certain messages hidden within as it is.

It’s easy to say it doesn’t matter because nothing was obviously included in the books themselves. However, people who become fans of the books go and look them up on the internet and read transcripts of Rowling’s interviews, look up information on individual characters, etc. I should know - I was one of these people myself!

I’m not taking this lightly. I’d been a fan of the books for years, and had read the first four books more than twelve times each.

Rowling is a massive celebrity - many thousands of kids and adults alike adore her because of the Harry Potter books. I think anyone who says this wouldn’t have some sort of influence over kids is very wrong.

If only people in her position, with so many kids and adults hanging on her every word, would just learn to keep their ideas and opinions to themselves. Let people make up their own minds about the characters, rather than shoving these sorts of things down people’s throats.

 

[Nevarlander]

Does anybody think Dumbledore has an existence outside of the pages of the books?

I wouldn’t be surprised. There are people who actually believe they are Aeris or Sephiroth or some such from Final Fantasy VII (I’ve heard stories from a guy who used to live with them).
However, beyond the literal meaning of that, fictional characters do affect how others perceive the real world. There were all sorts of “emo kids” who wanted to be Goethe’s Werther or Julie from Rousseau’s Nouvelle Heloise back when those came out. Look at what One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest did to the American mental health system. Fiction is pretty powerful. However, this doesn’t negate my argument that gay!Dumbledore doesn’t affect the books’ moral content b/c it’s never brought up in the text. His gayness actually makes him more sympathetic by making you think about his internal struggles about killing the man he loved b/c, well, he had to.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

As long as Dumbledore isn’t “busy”- and there is no mention of “business” in any of the books, he is celibate- it is just another author opening her mouth and not remembering on which side her bread is buttered.

my girls aren’t allowed to watch most of the news or have certain RSS news feeds, so this won’t affect them. As far as they are concerned, Dumbledore is a character in a book.

 

[1ke]

And outside of some teenage kissing and a marriage of two unlikely characters – sexuality is NOT addressed.

And, as dulcissima pointed out abou ther kids: " I’ve got to say, my kids heard about it, and it is really bugging them.

So, now you’ve got a mom who has to explain what “gay” is b/c JK Rowling is in the news popping off about her gay character.

 

[Catholic90]

I’m worried that it may present homosexuality as okay. It isn’t, homosexual acts are grave sins.

I

You obviously have not read the books.

There is absolutely no reference ANYWHERE in any of the books to his sexuality. None, zero, zip, nadda.

There are no homosexual acts taking place in the books. Not even any allusion to any!

If indeed he was (speculative and promoted by fan fiction), he was celibate. Isn’t that exactly in line with what the Catholic church teaches??? If you feel SSA to remain celibate? It appears Dumbledore could be a good Catholic!!

 

[Catholic90]

And, as dulcissima pointed out abou ther kids: " I’ve got to say, my kids heard about it, and it is really bugging them.

So, now you’ve got a mom who has to explain what “gay” is b/c JK Rowling is in the news popping off about her gay character.

If her kids are old enough to read Harry Potter, they are old enough to know what gay is! And if they truly read the books, they will also know there is no reference to any of this in the books.

 

[CatholicSam]

No, but the Harry Potter books have a message of tolerance, seeing past social and societal sterotypes and into the heart of that person. She’s always envisioned Dumbledore as gay, I applaud her.

Yeah, tolerance for everything except the teachings of the Catholic Church

 

[CatholicSam]

It appears Dumbledore could be a good Catholic!!

What you’re doing is called rationalizing. And if you take two seconds to think about this absurd statement you will realize that a wizard is not a good Catholic. Maybe if you say that to yourself often enough you will start to believe it as true…

 

[Catholic90]

What you’re doing is called rationalizing. And if you take two seconds to think about this absurd statement you will realize that a wizard is not a good Catholic. Maybe if you say that to yourself often enough you will start to believe it as true…

Oh, for heaven’s sake, lighten up a little. It’s a fun piece of FICTIONAL work, for crying out loud! Learn to have fun!

I enjoyed reading the books with my kids and we never saw anything “gay” in there at all.

 

[1ke]

If her kids are old enough to read Harry Potter, they are old enough to know what gay is!

I disagree.

And if they truly read the books, they will also know there is no reference to any of this in the books.

Which is why there is **no **reason for Rowling to discuss any character being “gay”. It has no purpose.

But, she did. And, that has only one agenda attached to it-- promoting homosexual lifestyles as acceptable by declaring one of her characters “gay”.