Dumbledore is gay!!!

[sigune]

YAAAAAAAAAYYYY! Dumbledore is gay!!!!

...I'm sorry, I should not perhaps be all whoopee about this, it's a bit childish... The thing is that Dumbledore is the one character in canon who has always given off a gay vibe to me. I have read slash with Snape, with Lupin, with Ron and Harry and Draco - just about everyone. But none of these characters ever seemed gay to me. Dumbledore did. He always did. Seriously. I'm not sure I can explain why, but it was just there.

Because I am into Queer Studies, and many of my favourite artists were/are gay, and I actually like to write about gay characters, it troubled me a little that I could never see that in Snape or Lupin or James or Sirius or whoever. I mean, it's sort of my job to detect that sort of thing. But Dumbledore... Ha! What a relief! Finally Rowling said something in an interview that makes me really, really happy. Happy because she did include a queer character, and supremely happy because I spotted it :D.

I wish I could refer you to a post or a comment as proof of my long-standing belief in Gaydore, but I'm afraid I no longer remember where to look for one. You'll just have to trust me to speak the truth :-).

Yay! Yaaaaayyy!!

*goes off to celebrate*

Comments

[bluestocking79.livejournal.com]

Finally Rowling said something in an interview that makes me really, really happy. Happy because she did include a queer character, and supremely happy because I spotted it :D.

I think that's sort of how I feel as well. I always read Dumbledore as gay, and I thought that the subtext in DH was not particularly subtextual, but I don't think I ever expected JKR to come out and admit that she had created some queer characters. (Personally, I feel like Lupin is at the very least bisexual, but that might just be me reading too much into the Werewolf metaphor.)

I understand where people are coming from, in wondering why she didn't put in explicitly from the text, making it canon-canon instead of off-canon. To me, though, it is in canon, on a subtextual level if nothing else, so to me, this isn't the same as coming out of nowhere and proclaiming that, say, Neville married Hannah Abbot, a twist that is completely arbitrary and unsupported by textual evidence.

So, hooray for Grindelwald/Dumbledore! Or should we call it Grumbledore?

[sigune.livejournal.com]

To me, though, it is in canon, on a subtextual level if nothing else, so to me, this isn't the same as coming out of nowhere and proclaiming that, say, Neville married Hannah Abbot, a twist that is completely arbitrary and unsupported by textual evidence.
Exactly. It was totally unnecessary for her to make the statement about Dumbledore's sexual preference, but at least it doesn't come out of the blue. Some thing in actual written canon were much more unfounded, such as (as far as I am concerned) Percy's sudden return to the fold, and Dudley's suddenly caring about Harry.

Lupin - yes, I could agree. He didn't specifically strike me as gay or bi, but I have no problems accepting that he might be, and as far as I am concerned his marriage to Tonks certainly doesn't rule the possibility out. Funny enough, I have always had trouble seeing Snape as gay or even bi, though. I even have a tendency to write him as homophobic. I'm not sure I can explain why.

[bluestocking79.livejournal.com]

Funny enough, I have always had trouble seeing Snape as gay or even bi, though. I even have a tendency to write him as homophobic. I'm not sure I can explain why.

Hmm...I can actually easily picture Snape being uncomfortable or unsettled by homosexuality. I think that might be because of his background. Coming from Northern England and being working-class, I think he'd have been raised in a culture that views homosexuality with a certain degree of suspicion, if not outright hostility.

I can see Snape as possibly being bi, but I think it might also be something that he wrestle with, if he chose to acknowledge it at all. I suspect it would unnerve him.