JK Rowling outs Dumbledore as gay

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay.

 

She made her revelation to a packed house in New York's Carnegie Hall on Friday, as part of her US book tour.

 

She took audience questions and was asked if Dumbledore found "true love".

 

"Dumbledore is gay," she said, adding he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago.

 

The audience gasped, then applauded. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy," she said.

 

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she added, saying Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down" and his love for Grindelwald was his "great tragedy".

 

"Oh, my god," Rowling, 42, concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction".

 

Fan sites have long speculated on Dumbledore's sexuality as he was known for having a mysterious, troubled past.

 

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she saw the script carried a reference to a girl who was once of interest to Dumbledore.

 

She said she ensured director David Yates was made aware of the truth about her character.

 

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell welcomed the news about Dumbledore and said: "It's good that children's literature includes the reality of gay people, since we exist in every society.

 

"But I am disappointed that she did not make Dumbledore's sexuality explicit in the Harry Potter book. Making it obvious would have sent a much more powerful message of understanding and acceptance."

 

And a spokesman for gay rights group Stonewall added: "It's great that JK has said this. It shows that there's no limit to what gay and lesbian people can do, even being a wizard headmaster."

 

Rowling also did a brief reading from the seventh book in her best-selling series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as part of her Open Book Tour of the US - her first there for seven years.

 

She said she regarded her novels as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority".

 

But she added that not everyone likes her work. Christian groups have alleged the books promote witchcraft. The author said her revelation about Dumbledore would give them one more reason.

 

The seventh Potter book broke sales records on both sides of the Atlantic when it was published in July, selling 11 million copies in 24 hours.

 

The fifth film adaptation of the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released this summer. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is due for release late next year.

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm

huh? gay??

Gay, as in homosexual. He loved other men.

 

But it seems a bit random to pop it out now.

Gay, as in homosexual. He loved other men.

 

But it seems a bit random to pop it out now.

 

someone asked if there was anyone in dumbledore's love life, that's why she answered that, it wasnt random.

Seemed random to me.

 

It put a spanner in the works for fan fiction people now :lol:

Seemed random to me.

 

It put a spanner in the works for fan fiction people now :lol:

 

Oh I'm sure there was plenty of slash out there already before she said it. *shudders*

 

Doesn't seem all that random to me... from what I understand she writes characters the same way I do- she has to know everything about them before she knows what they're going to do- it's weird, like having a bunch of fully-formed people living in your head. It was probably very matter-of-fact for her.

Gay, as in homosexual. He loved other men.

 

But it seems a bit random to pop it out now.

 

yeah i know

 

where did you get the info?

hey i found this :

 

First things first: At last night's talk at New York City's Carnegie Hall — an event for thousands of young Harry Potter fans and their parents — J.K. Rowling outed the kindly headmaster. Responding to a question from a child about Dumbledore's love life, Rowling hesitated and then revealed, "I always saw Dumbledore as gay." Filling in a few more details, she said, "Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald.... Don't forget, falling in love can blind us. [He] was very drawn to this brilliant person. This was Dumbledore's tragedy." She added that in a recent meeting about the sixth movie, she spied a line in the script where Dumbledore waxed poetic about a girl, so she was forced to scribble director David Yates a note to correct the situation.

So how did all those lucky kids get to sit in the baronial gilt and red velvet splendor of Carnegie Hall? First they won a sweepstakes event created by Rowling's publisher, Scholastic, and then they flew to New York from all over the country. As I waited in line in the unseasonal muggy New York heat to enter the famous concert hall, I chatted up the father and daughter in front of me. They'd just flown in from Nashville (what's more, their plane had been delayed, so they'd arrived at the concert hall with mere minutes to spare). As I canvassed more families, I found they'd come from all over the country — from as far away as Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, and Texas (it was rumored some came from Hawaii, but I didn't verify that).

When the line, snaking around the block, began moving at 6:30, it moved fast. By 7:00 everyone was seated, the red-jacketed ushers were shushing and closing the box doors, and the event host, MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann, took the stage. But not center stage, which was dominated by an enormous, velvet-upholstered, carved wooden chair — a throne, really — planted on a Persian carpet. Gesturing to it, Olbermann joked, "That's not sufficient for someone who'll be signing that many copies" — a reference to the fact that, after the reading, Rowling would be signing a copy of Hallows for every single sweepstakes winner.

The crowd was polite to Olbermann, but when a smiling Rowling finally strode on stage, perfectly blonded and coiffed, fingernails shellacked to a brilliant red, stilettos clicking, they went absolutely mad, screaming, jumping to their feet, even crying. Gently, in true mom fashion, she shushed them, and began to read from the seventh book. She's a brilliant reader, funny and quick, doing all the voices with comic perfection — Ron was abashed and sullen; Hermione, squeaky with rage; Harry, exhausted with the effort to appease the two. (She even made herself giggle in places as she read.) When she finished the crowd rose to its feet again, even as she tried, in vain, to get them sit. "Don't make me cry!" she kept saying. Finally everyone did sit, and the question-and-answer session could begin. The lucky questioners had mostly been chosen in advance (though a few were plucked at random); at least one little girl — 8 years old — could barely reach the microphone.

Neville's love life? "He marries Hannah Abbott!" she announced as the crowd squealed its appreciation. (What's more, Hannah becomes proprietress of The Leaky Cauldron, so Neville becomes cool to his students.)

Why is it Molly Weasley who kills Bellatrix? One, "Molly is a very good witch," even though most people don't realize it. And two, "Bellatrix is as obsessed with Voldemort as Molly is consumed with maternal love." What was it like to finish book seven? "It felt like a bereavement." Were there intentional similarities between Voldemort and Hitler? Yes, there were. The books, she said, were "a plea for an end to hatred, to bigotry" as well as a lesson for kids "to question authority.... You should not assume the establishment tells you the truth." Did Hagrid ever find love? Alas, no (though that had something more to do with the rarity of giantesses than any personality defect on Hagrid's part). To one boy, who revealed his dad had read the series, but not his mom, she said, "If I've got time to write 'em, she's got time to read 'em!" As the crowd roared with laughter, she added, "Is your mom here? Who did you come with?" (Dad, not Mom.)

By 8:20 it was over — the talking part, anyway. Rowling, flexing her hands, announced she had to limber up in order to sign all the books, which were stacked in enormous piles next to the stage. Was she really going to do scrawl her distinctive signature that many times? Yes, she was — and the kids, who were now going to be within touching distance of her, became downright emotional.

As for me, a member of the press, I was shunted back out into the hot October night, where it had started to rain. "That was great!" shouted a reporter next to me. Yes, it was. Like those kids, I'll remember it for the rest of my life.

On the train ride home, as I mulled over the evening, I kept trying to figure out which my favorite book of the series was. Four? Seven? Five? I've got a great argument for each of those. But I just couldn't make up my mind. All of you out there — can any of you say what your favorite is?

 

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/10/rowling-outs-du.html

yeah i know

 

where did you get the info?

 

From the link I posted at the bottom of my first post.

^ lol, sorry2 i wasn't realized :lol:

my favorite is the ABC headline: "Dumbledore is Gay and Some are Miffed" :D

my favorite is the ABC headline: "Dumbledore is Gay and Some are Miffed" :D

 

Even better would be: "Dumbledore is gay and some are fisted.":rolleyes:

Incidentally, did anyone know a dumbledore is actually a dung-beetle??:rolleyes:

When you read the books you don't think about his sexuality. You think about how fucking awesome he was. But now that she confirmed his homosexuality it kind of makes sense. :P I guess it's like a subtle hint or moral that she slipped in the series. It doesn't matter who or what you are, you can still do great things. :nice:

The audience gasped, then applauded. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy," she said.

I don't think people would react the same way if she told us about this earlier. That's why she never wrote anything or any clue about Dumbledore's love life and I'm pretty sure that if nobody asked her that question she probably would never said anything about it. I mean about him being gay.

 

If from let's say 4th book she wrote that one of the most important, beloved, and respected character in the book is gay, what do you think will be the consequences to Harry Potter series as such in its image and sales? Not too good I suppose. So she had her own reasons why she said this just now.

 

Maybe I'm taking this too far. :shy: :D

I hate this.

 

Can't I read a book without someone being gay in it? I want to read about NORMAL people.

 

Thank God that Rowling wasn't explicit about that relationship. I would have hurled all over the book and sent it back to her. Kids don't need to read about that.

^ What you said is exactly what I meant with my previous post. :) So yeah, thank God she said this not from the beginning.

The bible bashers of the American South are calling onto people to set fire to everything related to Harry Potter

Gay, as in homosexual. He loved other men.

 

But it seems a bit random to pop it out now.

 

Pop what out, exactly??:stunned:

dumbledore=gay= coolness