Dumbledore is gay, but that's OK

I was first told by Emma, and I confirmed it. It's also been announced in some very amusing (and imaginative!) headlines:

• Rowling Lets Dumbledore Out of the Closet (Some Angered as Rowling Reveals Potter Mentor Was Into Wizards, Not Witches) [ABC]
• Alohomora Closet! [Firefox News]
• Dumbledore Rumbled! [News of the World]
• Magical day for gays as Dumbledore is outed [Times Online]

In a question and answer session at Carnegie Hall during her American tour, J.K revealed the following:

"My truthful answer to you… I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. [ovation.] … Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was.
To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent, but he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him.
Yeah, that’s how I always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair… [laughter].
I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, “Dumbledore’s gay!” [laughter]
If I’d known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!"

Is anyone else very surprised?

It also seems odd for Rowling to reveal such information about a key character after the books. What is she trying to achieve? Although there was no (apparent) woman in Dumbledore's life, there were no other hints at his sexuality (that I could see.) Of course, now we'll all re-read the books, just to see if there is something we've missed.

Not that it changes anything for me. I still respect Dumbledore as a great wizard who, although had an 'experimental adolescence' involving plans "for the greater good," defended and died for his beliefs of compassion and forgiveness, whichever way he swings.

Such a revelation has been met with mixed reactions. We Potter fans are an accepting lot, and many of us have cheered the news, but some are in a state of shock and outrage.

I think it's wonderful that she's using the books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance," and I respect much more as a writer for doing so. But could she have made her point better by including this in the books themselves? Or did she feel that there would be too much opposition to the books if she did? Did she think it might not be a children's book otherwise? Or is she just trying to promote homosexual understanding?

While I can appreciate that Rowling might want the characters of her books to be created and shaped by the reader's interpretation, I would think that such a major part of who a character is should be developed throughout the series, not just used as a bombshell afterwards. Was she worried about banning and backlash? Whatever her intention, she has the world talking about it now. And I support however she helps people come to terms with and acceptance of homosexuality.

I just think it's sad that Dumbledore never found true love.

x
Just a girl