So What If Albus Dumbledore Is Gay?

Ever since J K Rowling announced that Albus Dumbledore was gay, there's been a furore. Some people hate the fact and some people love it. I say accept the fact and move on. It is a damned fine set of books and, if you'll pardon the pun, a spellbinding series of tales, read it as that if you want to, re-examine the stories in the light of this new fact if you must. Why the controversy? Did anyone have a problem with Hagrid? Being half-man and half-giant as he is? Did that cause anyone to raise moral and ethical concerns over the issue of half-breeds?

People put forth that it's a publicity stunt. Well, duh! She's got to make money off the sales of her books, that's how she makes a living. Now that the series is over, it's going to drop out of public view and she would obviously like it not to. And why shouldn't she flesh out the back stories only hinted at in the books? Why should the magic of the series end with just these books?

There was an article in the newspaper today about this and how schools were discouraging students from issuing the books and parents were forbidding their children from reading them. Why? What's wrong with a central character in a popular book being gay? It's a fact of life: some people are homosexual. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Your kids are going to have to learn about it sometime. And with the reach that the media has nowadays and the exposure kids have, chances are they already know. Is the aim to protect children against people who are different? What about differences in colour of someone's hair? The colour of their skin? The colour of their eyes? What about the fact that some people don't like chocolate? Should the kids be shielded from this horrible fact lest it do them irrevocable psychological harm? Are they going to stop the kids from reading The Chronicles Of Narnia next? Those stories are criticized for racism and sexism amongst other things. And what about Enid Blyton stories that have golliwogs in them? Those are thought to be politically incorrect too and by this logic, may put racial bias into the minds of young, impressionable children hence should not be given to children to peruse.

I feel that, contrary to what appears to be popular notion, these books give parents a great way to explain to kids about homosexuality and to teach them not to be prejudiced or think of it differently. Don't these people understand that children don't have biases and preconceived notions? They only pick up what they see. If you tell them that they shouldn't be reading these tales they are going to read them behind your back. And they are going to get the idea that being gay is bad and they are going to be prejudiced. Don't pass on your fears and irrationalities on to your children. But if you are biased yourself and don't have the courage to be sensible and do the right thing, then I'm sorry for your children; I think they start out in life with a handicap.

29 comments:

Charles said...

I really don't remember which character Albus Dumbledore was, but if there's no sex, in the books, where's the harm? It must not have been a flamboyant character, because I certainly don't remember remember. So what, who cares? I'd say its pretty much a non-issue. I must admit though, I've not read any of these books, I really don't intend to either. I have seen a couple of the movies and I suppose they were alright, but not on my top ten list by any means.

Its nice to see you posting again, BTW. Welcome back.

Charles said...

oops single remember. I don't know how I did that.

no.good.at.coding said...

Dumbledore was pretty much the most important character after Harry Potter himself :D He's the headmaster of Hogwarts.

I agree, it's a non-issue. The books haven't changed and there's no direct references in the stories, but people are making a big deal out of it all; they just need an excuse!

The movies were alright but, as you said, not in the top ten list. But the books are quite good, if you like that sort of stuff. Maybe not for adults, but I certainly enjoyed them as did most of my peers.

Anonymous said...

New post! Yay! :D... Now for the comment ... I completely agree that the whole issue's been blown out of proportion and parents not letting their children read the books, which I must confess are the only ones I have read and enjoyed in the last few years, is just unbelievably stupid...But more importantly, who doesn't like chocolate!? I could shut my ears to that! :D

The Red Queen said...

I agree. It's just so stupid. Who CARES if Dumbledore was gay?
Or if anyone is. As long as they're not killing/hurting people leave em alone.
People can be so close minded!AUGH!!!

Charles said...

If J K Rowling really wanted to still the hornet's nest of controversy, she'd have told about how Harry was not just into magic, but doesn't believe in God. THAT would stir it up.

no.good.at.coding said...

Charles, it certainly would! I read a comment somewhere that said that nothing gets people going like a discussion about religion and politics!

Mona said...

That is as stupid as debating about how many children did Lady Macbeth have.

I have not read them either. The very thought of holding something o bulky in the name of a novel puts me off now. I've had enough of that...

I remember the issue about Enid Blyton being politically incorrect.
That is again rubbish. I think hers are great books that enable the kids to learn some manners & etiquette and have great morals too.

Its not that Rowling's books have not created a controversy before. They were castigated by the Vatican for teaching young children to extol magic which is generally considered an evil deed by religion.

Anonymous said...

You and serious writing? I really like it, but I think you might be a little bit of a hypocrite...

The Red Queen said...

@Mona
Did you know, that some (pseudo)intellectuals actually thought the Faraway Tree was a phallic symbol reference?
I mean, COME ON!

no.good.at.coding said...

@Anonymous:
>You and serious writing?
Why not? I'm not all fun and games you know :D
>but I think you might be a little bit of a hypocrite...
Really? How so? Care to elaborate?

Mona said...

Hey NGAC.... I wonder if Anon knows that sh/he is a coward?

Proved so by posting the comment as anon!

no.good.at.coding said...

Mona, at least I've been lucky enough not to have had anything quite as bad as you or Charles, yet! :)

Charles said...

So far as I can tell (I haven't confirmed this,) you have only had this single anonymous comment, I think that if you required commenters to be logged in it would help immensely.

no.good.at.coding said...

Charles, I think there have been 2 or 3 anonymous comments in all. But I'm not really bothered, not yet.

But yes, if I do happen to write something controversial or if the blog suddenly gets very popular ( especially with trolls ), I'll be turning that feature on, along with comment moderation :)

Mona said...

Dear NGAC

Here is wishing you a very happy and a prosperous Diwali!

Mona said...

Let me guess...

NGAC is busy

NGAC is getting married ( its wedding season & he also showed interest in a saree showroom( Ahem( I am Sherlock Holmes)))

NGAC has deserted blogging!

Charles said...

Yo, Dude. I hope you're OK. Getting married could be a good thing...
We're missing your good demeanor. I have researched as to why you couldn't find my gadget in the directory, and it seems there is an unstated 'critical mass' (unknown/given number) of users subscribed to a gadget before it actually shows in the directory. Which is really strange, you have to find users yourself, before users can find your gadget(I'm scratching my head here). I went through all 29264 gadgets and couldn't find mine. I even looked up some that were in the directory, only to not have them returned. Then in the Google Groups, I found a post about there being a requisite number of users before it shows. Its somewhere between the number of users I have and less than 100, that's all I can gather.

no.good.at.coding said...

Married?? Not quite so soon guys! :)

I'm just busy or at least, using that as an excuse. Don't seem to be in much of a mood to blog nowadays. Probably because I'm out from 9 to 9 and it's kinda hard to let the mind wander when you aren't relaxed :)

And Charles, you went through 29k gadgets!! :O That must've taken some patience.

Mona said...

NGAC! thanks for your visits! :)

Hope you are doing well.
I wish you all the best in everything you do (((HUGS)))!

Charles said...

Yeah, What Mona said. :)

Charles said...

I thought that you might like to know that my gadget now shows in the iGoogle Directory. I tried a bunch of word combinations to see if it would pull up, "AI's", "Fiction Counter", "55 Fiction", and "Flash Fiction" all pull up only my gadget, and "55 Flash", "55" share pages with other gadgets. I think I needed to have some given number of users before it would show.

Mona said...

NGAC, I hope things are hunky Dory with you and you are having a good time and Life! :)

Mona said...

(((Hugs))) NGAC! Thanks for your kind suggestions about the birthday blog etc.
I guess my blog is more a non-blog of crazy nothings at times. I won't be getting too much time to be around in the near future at it. But I might just post randomly at times once in a while.
Hope to cya once a while. Please know that you are a very valuable person to me!

Charles said...

NGAC,
I hope all is well with you, I don't know if you celebrate Christmas, if you do, Merry Christmas, if you do not, then A Merry day to you anyway. :)

TSO said...

Hey, I enjoyed your writing, how come so long since an update? You know what I liked even more than your articles? Your comments to MY articles! ;)

Mona said...

NGAC... Where are you??????

We miss you a lot!

Charles said...

I hope all is going good for you, bud. We haven't heard much from you. Neither here or the other place. BTW, do you have more than one ID over there? The reason I ask is someone with your name, viewed my profile and I didn't know if it was because it was you, or because I had looked at his, or maybe both.

Mona said...

Blog to sajaa rakkha hai, par posts kahaan hain??? :D :D

Happy Valentine's day to you NGAC!