Harry Potter Character Comes Out

[The Big PINK One♥]

NEW YORK - With author J.K. Rowling's revelation that master wizard Albus Dumbledore is gay, some passages about the Hogwarts headmaster and rival wizard Gellert Grindelwald have taken on a new and clearer meaning.

The British author stunned her fans at Carnegie Hall on Friday night when she answered one young reader's question about Dumbledore by saying that he was gay and had been in love with Grindelwald, whom he had defeated years ago in a bitter fight.

'"You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me,'" Dumbledore says in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in Rowling's record-breaking fantasy series.

The news brought gasps, then applause at Carnegie Hall, the last stop on Rowling's brief U.S. tour, and set off thousands of e-mails on Potter fan Web sites around the world. Some were dismayed, others indifferent, but most were supportive.

"Jo Rowling calling any Harry Potter character gay would make wonderful strides in tolerance toward homosexuality," Melissa Anelli, webmaster of the fan site www.the-leaky-cauldron.org, told The Associated Press. "By dubbing someone so respected, so talented and so kind, as someone who just happens to be also homosexual, she's reinforcing the idea that a person's gayness is not something of which they should be ashamed."

"'DUMBLEDORE IS GAY' is quite a headline to stumble upon on a Friday evening, and it's certainly not what I expected," added Potter fan Patrick Ross, of Rutherford, N.J. "(But) a gay character in the most popular series in the world is a big step for Jo Rowling and for gay rights."

Gellert Grindelwald was a dark wizard of great power, who terrorized people much in the same way Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, was to do a generation later. Readers hear of him in the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," in a reference to how Dumbledore defeated him. In "Deathly Hallows," readers learn they once had been best friends.

"Neither Dumbledore nor Grindelwald ever seems to have referred to this brief boyhood friendship in later life,'" Rowling writes. "However, there can be no doubt that Dumbledore delayed, for some five years of turmoil, fatalities, and disappearances, his attack upon Gellert Grindelwald. Was it lingering affection for the man or fear of exposure as his once best friend that caused Dumbledore to hesitate?"

As a young man, Dumbledore, brilliant and powerful, had been forced to return home to look after his mentally ill younger sister and younger brother. It was a task he admits to Harry that he resented, because it derailed the bright future he had been looking forward to.

Then Grindelwald, described by Rowling as "golden-haired, merry-faced," arrived after having been expelled from his own school. Grindelwald's aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, says of their meeting: "The boys took to each other at once." In a letter to Grindelwald, Dumbledore discusses their plans for gaining wizard dominance: "'(I)f you had not been expelled we would never have met.'"

Potter readers had speculated about Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past.

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said Friday of Dumbledore's feelings about Grindelwald, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

[mzintoxicating]

yeah .. i heard that he was gay too .. it makes sense now of why he didn't have a wife

[Anny♥]

I read it too... wow I didnt know Cant wait for next harry movie ;D

[LiL ThUg iT JaYe]

I tried reading the very first "Harry Potter" book when it first came out. Everyone was crazy about it, and I wanted to know what all the hype was about. When I got the book and read it, the book didn't keep my attention. After five minutes of reading it either made me tired, bored, or I just put the book down and went on to do something else. Usually reading does make me tired, but not in a small amount of time. J.K is an excellent writer no doubt about it. But the books are not for me. I saw the first movie and loved it, in fact I love all the movies, and like Anny said, she cannot wait for the next movie, same here, lol. I think adding a controversial subject such as homosexuality is not a bad thing. I think its good. Sometimes when people are raised to think a certain wait and portray and be this type of person. They don't see that diversity doesn't come with only how people look, but how they think, and their sexual orentation is often included in this. Myself, personally. I have nothing again homosexual people. I don't think its anyone place to judge people on their sexual preferences. If that's what they like, that's what they like, that should be the end of the discussion. Everyone now-a-days complain about discrimination and people making not so nice judgements, but you have to look back at what you judge people for. If you don't want someone judging you then don't judge other people. Its apart of Karma and what comes around goes around. I think this was very much a surprise to many fans but I think alot of fans respect J.K. for doing this, and it's just one more thing for people to remember for years and years. It's the final gossip, and you can't help but to love it sometimes.

[cloudxtears]

I agree with you ^ I love that JK Rowling did that! The whole time i thought there weren't any gays in the stories but suprise suprise! I agree with the article, it does potrary a gay person in a positive way (for once), which is so radical!

"By dubbing someone so respected, so talented and so kind, as someone who just happens to be also homosexual, she's reinforcing the idea that a person's gayness is not something of which they should be ashamed."

Such true words there.