On Dumbledore

Maybe this is silly, but I thought I'd give Dumbledore's coming-out party a quick go-over. Such an iconic character in English-language literature deserves it, I think.

First of all, let's categorize the two distinct groups that are responding to this literary event: those who approve and those who don't. Let's begin with my favorites: The people who are celebrating. These include the true-blue fans who stand by JK as an author. These guys are generally open-minded and see the outing as further development in a world that was left fairly unresolved at the close of the series. It is nothing more than that... and perhaps a new, awesome pairing for creepy, obsessive fanfiction writers. The other folks who are also celebrating are GLBT activists who foresee a future for GLBT characters in mainstream Young Adult's fiction.

There is another group of people who are pissed at JK. This includes the conservatives. Their reactions range from disappointment to righteous anger. What pisses me off the most is the disappointment. How could a talented writer obviously in touch with Christian values be supporting the sinfulest of all sins? The Bible says to hate homos, and Dumbledore just isn't hateable. LITERARY DISCONECT AGGGH. Obviously this is just another example of Mammon-worship. Just another good writer gone bad, pandering to the extreme left by outing a character who was obviously not meant to be a homo. Right? A particularly nasty woman commented on a news blog that she was sick of "these people trying to shove their false values down our children's throats." (meaning tolerance, I guess?)

Obviously, their minds are closed. Who cares, right? Well there's another block of folks that are mad at JK. The author of these books has not been radical enough, they say. And that she's doing it to make money.

I don't think it's a problem if she's just doing it to rake in movie tickets or whatever. Maybe it's not wrong that she left GLBT issues out of the hard copy. It might have been harder to get her books into the hands of kids if she hadn't. In today's cultural climate gays and lesbians are far "worse" than wizards and magic... there are many lessons about tolerance, love, racial equality and liberty present in JK's books. It doesn't all have to be about GLBT people. Anyway, the point is that we've just scored a major cultural point. The majority of people who read HP love Dumbledore. He is wise, strong, intelligent, talented and successful. And he's gay. Period. His sexuality isn't the focus.

The waters are gradually warming. GLBT characters present in the context of children's books are closer now. Dumbledore is a pioneer: he has shown that young readers will continue to embrace a character regardless of his sexual orientation or identification.

Hopefully the next JKR will have the needs of GLBT folks in mind and will include a GLBT character as kind, hard-working, courageous, ambitious, and wise as Albus Dumbledore.