Dumbledore is Gay

Since this theology blog has had more posts about Harry Potter than theology when it is not on unannounced hiatus (sorry about that), I figured I might as well pass along the above piece of information, in case you hadn’t heard. Rowling’s revelation is significant because it changes…

…nothing. First of all, if you’ve read book seven, you can’t seriously tell me you’re all that surprised. I wouldn’t have guessed it, mind you, but it just kind of fits with what we know about him, especially his relationship with Gellert Grindelwald. I sort of agree with the activist quoted in the BBC article that it would have been nice if she had made this explicit in the book itself, but I think I understand why she didn’t. What makes the Harry Potter books so good is that there are first and foremost a story, not a soapbox. If this had been revealed, there are two places where it could have been done. One of them, in King’s Cross, would have completely interrupted the emotional flow of the book, though it could have perhaps been mentioned in passing. The second place would have been in Rita Skeeter’s book. That might have been effective. We were learning scandals about Albus Dumbledore, so why not have him be in love with Grindelwald? It would have fit, I think. But it’s not my book. It’s J.K. Rowling’s book, and in her judgment, it was better to just have this little fact about Dumbledore be there in the background, just in case you were wondering, but it has little more (and possibly less) significance than Dumbledore having blue eyes, at least as far as the story is concerned. The books take place in the 1990’s, so one would understand the fact that Dumbledore didn’t mention this upon being introduced, but I highly doubt it was ever a dark secret. Dumbledore likely considered his orientation to be of no importance to anyone except prospective dates. May the world soon come to share his view of the matter.