I've Been Saying I Got Heavy Gay Vibes From Dumbledore Since I Read The Book...

[said_scarlett]

I don't mean to spam, but I need to post this while it's fresh in my mind.

So JK Rowling has revealed that Albus Dumbledore was, in fact, gay. And in love with Grindelwald. I won't spam you with the link to the Newsweek article on it, since I'm sure you've seen it a dozen times already, but...

I hope that other fantasy authors take this as a lesson. Dumbledore's sexuality was never an issue, never a selling point of his character. It wasn't even revealed until someone asked about his love life. It was just one small aspect of the character that the author had decided on to flesh him out and make him 'real'.

Maybe now we'll have less of the 'ZOMG LOOK HOW PROGRESSIVE I AM! LOOKIT MY GAY CHARACTERS! SEE HOW GAY THEY ARE? LOOK AT THEM HAVE GAY SEX BECAUSE THEY ARE GAY AND I AM WRITING THEM BECAUSE I AM SO EDGY AND COOL!' crap that is so prevalent in fantasy fiction.

I also hope more children's authors will see that having a character who's gay isn't a bad thing.

And besides all that, it's really awesome to have this brilliant, amazing, iconic character... who also happens to be in the queer camp. ;)

Comments

[aqua-karen.livejournal.com]

Wow. Also, wow.

My first reaction, I admit, was also "Hey, why after the fact?" But after a moment of thought--this is the only way it could be. If she'd told or had it in the series beforehand, it would have eaten the entire story and transformed the series and the reporting on it all into "OMG TEH GAYZ" drama no matter how she actually wrote or spoke about it.

It's wonderful to have a gay character like this in family literature. Not That Old Gay Guy, but someone a gay kid OR a straight kid (and various variations of course) can look up to and admire as an example of something they can become, beyond stereotypes or being defined by sexuality. I wish there had been more gay and lesbian figures that were like this when I was younger and trying to work out my sexuality.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

YES! Exactly! I was trying to get this point across above-thread, and I just couldn't figure out how to phrase it. But this is exactly what I was going for.

Yeah, same here. We've got a long, long way to go when it comes to having homosexuality be considered perfectly normal and not even worth mentioning or making a point of, but having more characters in mainstream literature who just happen to also be gay is a big step towards it.