Originally Posted By jdub >>I think the whole thing is weird. How can a fictional character "be gay" if they aren't gay in the book series?<< LOL--this is similar to LPers talking about certain unnamed Disney characters by name--how can this be their name--if it was never brought up in their screen incarnations?
Originally Posted By ecdc >>What a crock. Frankly, what f'ing difference does it make if Dumbledore was gay? Someone is always trying to cause trouble.<< Wow, I was just trying to bring up a topic fans of the books might want to discuss. But between RT's outrage and X's homophobia, I guess this got pointless really fast. Is it possible for people to grow up for 5 freaking minutes and have an adult conversation about a topic? Apparently not.
Originally Posted By u k fan I think it's pretty cool. I wish it had been mentioned in the books. Since lesbians came out a few years ago by say "Mom, I'm like Ellen" I guess guys can now say "Mom, I'm like Dumbledore - Yes, I'm a wizard"!!!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Wow, I was just trying to bring up a topic fans of the books might want to discuss. But between RT's outrage >> Sorry. I frankly though you were just stirring the pot like when people make posts wondering if they should go to Disney during Gay Days. If you weren't trying to start trouble I apologize.
Originally Posted By onlyme I thought I was the only person who's never read a word of those books. >>Without making this too world eventish, discuss what this means for the Potter series.<< Oh, silly rabbit...a 'gay' topic will always cause dissention. I don't know why, but that's just the way it is.
Originally Posted By DAR So in addition to teaching kids all about witchcraft it also slips in a gay agenda in there. Nice real nice. Which is what someone with NO time on their hands would say. As for me, doesn't really change things.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut its kind of like saying that tellitubby was gay. Why does it matter? The tellitubby want having sex with another telitubby was it? heck, do tellitubbies have a sex?
Originally Posted By dshyates Its pretty interesting if you read the story. Dumbledore meet Grindlewald when they were young, about 17 i believe. You could tell by Dumbledore being so easily enticed by Grindelwald's flare and rhetoric that he was influenced by passion not intellect.
Originally Posted By HyperTyper Those who think Rowling is a brave woman for saying this ought to remember that she said it well AFTER all seven books were released. There is a reason for that. Despite her views, she clearly didn't want to turn any would-be readers away. It was far more important to sell the books, apparently. So much for bravery. The whole debate on the gay issue has been intensely shallow and ridiculous. Young people are learning only about the sexual dimension of relationships. In all of this, there has been precious little about what contributes to a healthy relationship, family and home. The very same people who have been endorsing homosexuality and acceptance of it as equal to heterosexuality have been doing so in the name of diversity. And yet what is diversity? Is it being different for the sake of being different? Diversity is about bringing healthy balance. It's about inclusion, and variety. When two men decide that a woman is irrelevant to each of them personally, or that a woman is unessential in a partnership, or a mother irrelevant in a family, they deny the very power of gender diversity where it matters most: in the family. Likewise for women who deny the value of men and fathers in society's most basic unit. They place an inordinate degree of weight on sexual appetite (which can change to the degree we feed it), to the exclusion of all the good that comes of a complementary relationship where a woman's qualities are balanced and completed by a man's distinctly different ones. People should be free to make their own choices. Those who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle should not be cruelly treated or persecuted. However, it was quite shallow and irresponsible for Rowling to just dump Dumbledore's sexuality out there, especially with a such a loyal and young following, and especially without any context or discussion of what is missing when people deny or set aside the joy and importance of a member of the opposite gender in their lives. But then again, Dumbledore was rather alone, and perhaps missed-out on a perfectly wonderful life with, say, Professor McGonagall, because he longed for the love of someone who could never offer him what he NEEDED. I wasn't a big fan of Dumbledore in the end, anyway. I thought his "exit" from the series was rather cowardly, and totally out-of-character with the Dumbledore portrayed in earlier books. Rowling's books have several moral flaws. She has great talent, but also showed a preference for being "hip" and abandoning childhood innocence. For too many grown-ups, innocence is an embarrassing liability instead of a virtue to be cherished and upheld, even in adulthood. Never fear. There is more to the universe than Harry Potter. Those who are obsessed with HP, supportively or critically, are missing out on a wealth of wonderful literature.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF >>Those who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle should not be cruelly treated or persecuted.<< I keep hearing this term "homosexual lifestyle." What, pray tell, does it entail? I never got that memo, and I'm not sure I'm in compliance for living a proper homosexual lifestyle.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF >>heck, do tellitubbies have a sex?<< Actually, they do. Laa-Laa and Po are female, Dipsy and Tinky Winky are male. (Why do I know this?)
Originally Posted By jdub >>I keep hearing this term "homosexual lifestyle." What, pray tell, does it entail? I never got that memo, and I'm not sure I'm in compliance for living a proper homosexual lifestyle.<< Thank you. Citatations for noncompliance shall be issued! And I'm sure MOST homosexuals will be getting one.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I keep hearing this term "homosexual lifestyle." What, pray tell, does it entail? I never got that memo, and I'm not sure I'm in compliance for living a proper homosexual lifestyle.>> Well, I guess you guys DIDN'T get the memo. Loft style condo in the Warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Saturday evenings at the Walker or the Guthrie. Sunday afternoon walks in Loring Park. Get with the program, would you?? ;-)
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Those who think Rowling is a brave woman for saying this ought to remember that she said it well AFTER all seven books were released. There is a reason for that. Despite her views, she clearly didn't want to turn any would-be readers away. It was far more important to sell the books, apparently. So much for bravery." Wow, when did she tell you this? "When two men decide that a woman is irrelevant to each of them personally, or that a woman is unessential in a partnership, or a mother irrelevant in a family, they deny the very power of gender diversity where it matters most: in the family. Likewise for women who deny the value of men and fathers in society's most basic unit. They place an inordinate degree of weight on sexual appetite (which can change to the degree we feed it), to the exclusion of all the good that comes of a complementary relationship where a woman's qualities are balanced and completed by a man's distinctly different ones." Oh brother. Gay people no more make any such decisions than you did when you decided you like the opposite sex. In other words, YOU didn't "decide". That decision was made for you by your inherent make-up.
Originally Posted By Shooba >>I wish people could take a joke. I am sooooo tired of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS<< People being offended by a blatantly bigoted post (equating homosexuality with pedophilia) does not constitute "political correctness". I'm sooooo tired of people being making offensive statements and then dismissing the response by referring to it as political correctness.
Originally Posted By jdub <<I'm sooooo tired of people being making offensive statements and then dismissing the response by referring to it as political correctness.>> Ayup.
Originally Posted By onlyme As I stated earlier, I did not read the books, so excuse my ignorance, but, why put that out there now? Does it make certain aspects of the story, and his character, more clear? But, yea, bringing pedophilia into this mix, is ridiculous.
Originally Posted By Shooba >>why put that out there now?<< The question was asked and she gave an answer. Her characters had backstories and aspects of their lives that weren't explicitly stated in the books. That's one of the reasons her characters are so meaningful to so many, they have a depth and "realness" to them. And yes, this revalation does make some things make more sense, so it's reasonable to assume this was part of Dumbledore's backstory all along, and not just something Rowling decided on after the fact.
