wbweasley --- Apparently someone is so far in the closet that she is finding Christmas presents. That's kool. If you don't want to share that's fine. We all understand.

I am sure many people will have different views on the books from now on. I, personally, see like this: the "wise, old wizard" of the books, the man that mentors Harry and teaches all Harry Potter readers morals, is homosexual. This, for one, shows that gays are all around us: 10% of the population is homosexual. Also, it shows that homosexual people do not have to be evil, or corrupt, or bad in any way! Of course, I know that some people are going to take this new information that we have learned and say that even the people will admire most can be corrupt. To these people, I just want to say that you may be surprised when you find the number of people that you know personally who are homesexual. Also, to the people who say they're surprised Dumbledore didn't molest Harry or something: did you expect McGonagall to molest Harry whenever they were alone?

Why thank you Grndlwhatever, I haven't blushed in ages. And who pissed in Tyran_Kiran's wheeties?

maybe jk is just trying to teach that tolerance is what is important. maybe dumbledore is no different than the muggleborns who were being persecuted

Ok, reading through a few pages of comments. Jesus, people! Let me clear some stuff up for you. Being gay does not make you a pedophile. The Potter books haven't been 'children's books' for a while. Dumbledore being gay should not have any major effect on how you view him or the books in general. I mean, come ON. I thought people reading these books were open-minded.

I didn't quite expect that, but I never really thought about that side of Dumbledore's life before. Actually, I treated his memory much like I did a deceased, very revered teacher of mine, since they both had that quality of great love and wisdom about them. This is partly why I found it so terribly shocking when all of his past mistakes came out in Book Seven. I didn't want to think of Dumbledore as a flawed person anymore than I want to think of my teacher as such. However, I don't think "gay" fits into these flaws. I actually think it's rather lovely. One of the absolute greatest characters in the book is gay, and he doesn't fall into any gay stereotypes (with the slight exception of being an eccentric dresser)! The main reason that I love JKR is that she does express messages of tolerance and acceptance very strongly, and that is so important to embed in all people, especially children. Dumbledore's sexuality just extends that. But if you really are uncomfortable with it, well, she didn't put it into the books explicitly for a reason...

Did Jo really make a comment like "it will just give the christians one more thing to complain about" ? Because I'am a devout Christian and HP fan. And I dont think she meant to form the character that way, thats just how he came out.

A lot of people are only open-minded for as far as things suit what they want. I mean, come on--gay, wise old mentor and evil, corrupted, mudering, megamanical bigot...a 3 letter word changes a lot for some people.

Freddie Mercury and Dumbledore are both gay! Yay for Bohemian/Hogwartian Rhapsody!

Freddie Mercury and Dumbledore are both gay! Yay for Bohemian/Hogwartian Rhapsody!

What are the Indians doing!!!!!!!!!!??????!!!! !

Freddie Mercury/Dumbledore 4ever

I think if hobbits can be gay than so can wizards.

Hopefully dunbledore came back to his senses and became straight!!

i think that jk has opened up a can of worms. she's in BIG trouble now. its even on E NEWS. (not good)

ok. i couldnt even get through 4 pages of comments guys. when i first heard about this, i thought it was fantastic. now all you people that are being crap about it, are just making me angry. Jo doesn't need more negativity. the media, and all the people in the general public that are against homosexuality, are going to be saying bad things enough as it is. she doesn't need it from her fans, the ones that are supposed to support her, the series and the characters. to those saying that she didn't need to release this information, she has said that he has always been gay, and was announcing it in response to a question, what was she suppposed to do? just not answer? Dumbledore being gay should not affect your opinions on him, he was a fantastic wizard, thats it. people that judge others based on their sexuality are horrible, and if that is you, you don't deserve to be a harry potter fan.

Dumbledore won't go straight, he moves gayly forward.

I do not see what the point in telling this AFTER the fact is. It lets down those with small children that were allowed to read/watch this stuff for the magic in all of it. Whether she "thought" of him as gay or not really is irrelevant, when she has made millions already, and now is only spoiling it for people that were interested in clean family value stuff. Whether she does not want to please the Christians or not is one thing, but don't go too far as to ruin the whole rest of the story at the movie and the theme park with this non-sense, if it is NOT in the book, then it should not be an after-thought or thought of after-ward and discussed like this. It is utter nonsense to play on people's emotions after some have given it a chance because there were not any gay characters. You cannot create an after story after the story. It doesn't amke sense and it won't please many of the fans.

At people who are bigoted, homophobic, and/or think this ruins the character: THE POINT OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS------------ WH OOOSH! YOUR HEAD------------------- Congratulations on *completely* missing the message of these books. You guys most definitely not true HP fans, that's for sure.

Apparently, according to people who were there, the news about Dumbledore cam after a girl spoke for w hile about her own love-life and the way that the HP series had allowed her to find the strength to be herself, and it was extraordinarily brave and touching to all involved. She finished by then asking whether DD had ever found true love. Jo began her response with, "I think I owe you an honest answer..." That's how it happened. It wasn't that she just made it up on the spot to see what would happen. It's because a stranger who loved her books opened up to her and 2000 other strangers, and Jo felt she deserved honesty. It does matter, a little, but not because it truly changes how we should think about DD in any way, and it's amazing that the crowd assembled understood that, and cheered. The people hating on it here, well I wouldn't call them bigots, because I simply think they've got to be around 12 or 13 years old, and haven't yet lived enough life and known enough gay people to see how well-woven this is into DD's character and past actions. It fits with his dicotomy of sorrow and frivolity, the way his relationship to Gellert is played out and Aberforth's personally disgusted reaction to it. Also, what he sees in the mirror of Erised. I'm glad to know this about DD, but then again, I'm also mature enough to not have a knee-jerk problem with who other people fall in love with.

hi guys! omg i was at the event in new york and it was amazing! but yeah it was so funny when she mentioned that she always pictured dumbledore as gay. i never really pictured him that way personally, but i dont see what the harm is in it. like some people are freaking out. it is not like dumbledore molested harry or anything like that, guys. come on now. lol. but anyways it was so funny at the event when everyone started cracking up about dumbledore, she was like "wow! imagine what the fan fiction will be now!" that is so true, too. there are some crazy weird hp fans out there!

I really hope someone starts a supportgaydumbledore.com website. Someone get on that.

Big trouble for what, though? Being gay is something people are, regardless of what people deny, and for her to have a gay character is no different than a character who's tall, black, Asian, Jewish, or something like that. People can say what they want, but characters are what they are and I'd be very disappointed in her if she changed it suddenly to concur to the bigots. I was surprised, but I'm comfortable with it now and actually I like it.

wondermus22, that waws hilarius (i dont think i spelled that right. im just too tired today)

I am sad people feel sad about Dumbledore. I am surprised but I have to say I am definately MORE surprised that Dumbledore was once in love more so then who he was in love with. I think this gives Dumbledore's character more depth because it shows he understand being in love and loving another. It also explains his desire to "gloss over" some of the alarming characteristics of Grindlewald.

So....Dumbledore is gay. Didn't see this one coming. It doesn't really bother me. I mean it's Dumbledore, he can love whoever he wants to love. I wonder if Jo did this to annoy the snot out of extremists like Laura Mallory. If she did, more power to her. Anyways, she probably did it because tolerance is such a big thing in the books. It's saying "Look Dumbledore was a great character, and he was gay. Being gay doesn't make you a bad person." And she's right. I mean people who are getting all upset about it are taking it way to seriously. I mean he's gay. SO WHAT? Why do they care? (by they, I mean the people who are all "I'm never reading the books again. Boohoo. she just ruined the series for me"). It's not like there was any indication in the books whatsoever. Oh yeah, and just because he's gay doesn't make him a pervert crushing on Harry. That really bugs me. Come on, this is Dumbledore!!!! Promoter of Lemon drops! lover of Socks! He who chases that flighty temptress adventure! "It is our choices Harry far more than are abilities that determine who we truely are"!

I have no problem with Dumbledore's sexuality, but I must admit I was quite shocked. I did not like, however, the way Mugglenet worded the particular line in the news story: "Jo says Dumbledore was gay and in love with Gellert Grindelwald."...There's just something about that line that makes it seem almost like a joke.

I am making a jk hate site, anyone want to help?

Yes, I am smiling from ear to ear thinking about how angry Laura Mallory is.

hrehmel. how is being DD being gay, affecting small children? if anything, this should be a good thing for children, (even though i personally dont see harry potter as a children's book and if a parent has a problem with their children reading these books it should be because they are quite dark and there is a lot of death and violence in them) they need to learn, from a young age that homosexuals are just like everybody else, they live, they love, and they have the same family values, it is just that a lot of the popularity won't allow them to marry, or give a loving home to children that need it, meaning the difficulties gay's face when wanting to adopt.

Hey you might be able to get some right-wing propaganda advertisement for that JK hate website. And than you can sell your soul to the devil and team up with Laura Mallory on her tour of hate.

aw, malteselover that was nice. and i totally agree one hundred percent. and like some other people said, if this miniscule little detail has a negative effect on your views of these books, and if you are on mugglenet (which i am pretty sure is a harry potter FAN site) then maybe you dont belong here and maybe you should keep your comments to yourself because you are not a true HP fan. and, like i mentioned before, i was actually there and when she said this about dumbledore, it was not like she said it heavy and concrete, it was more of her opinion and view of him. (**which she is entitled to her opinions about whatever character she wants to have a view on. i mean she only created this story line and wrote all of the books. no biggie, right?**) and when she said it, it was light and airy. like she was totally making it into a kind of joke to make us all laugh in the crowd. JK is a funny, nice, giving author. SO CUT HER SOME SLACK YOU GAY HATERS! MY GOSH!

revengeofpeeves =] i applaud you.

Revengeofpeeves, I just found out a few hours ago about this...and I've been reading the last few pages of posts. You've made me laugh along everytime you post. Very amusing stuff.

Hell yeah! jk hate squad is ON IT!

Don't applaud me, applaud JK for being courageous enough to announce this knowing full well being the intelligent person she is of what would happen. For instance having people call her names on one of her biggest fan sites every couple of posts.

go dumbledore i support the gays............ok this has nothing to do with the topic, but i just wanted to say...........wow when i saw 1534 posts i thought god, theres a looooot of spam, but yay cuz we actually have sumthin to debate about!! its been a long time since we had hp-related news to argue over and im happy for that.

You know, Harry Potter is supposed to be about tolerance and here are fans who are talking about how DD being gay ruined the series for them. Not very tolerant. And what was she supposed to say but the truth? That girl who asked the question had just revealed how much Harry Potter had helped her get through her own troubles growing up.

oh i am applauding her also. and wishing shame upon all that are angry with her. im so making an i support gay dumbledore myspace...i'd make a website...but that takes way too much effort.

I can't believe it. This utterly shocked me. I find this very hard to believe. It changes my whole view of Dumbledore. It upset me very much (no offense) Props to Neville though!

I'm in complete shock. I always had a nagging feeling Dumbledore might have been gay and all... but to actually have it said like that by Jo herself goes beyond my wildest dreams. And, personally, SLASH RULES! I'm so reading the bunch of fanfiction that'll come out of this. =D

OK, I felt a little mad when I heard JK Rowling said she was happy it was bothering Christians (or summat like that). Not cool, Jo. In less then 12 hours, you made me into a fanboy nerd into a person who thinks the series is just 'Meh ...'

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUMBLEDORE!! GAY!?! DUDE! DUDE! DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omg, I didn't see that one coming! Man.. I don't hate homosexuals, but I can't deny that I'm seriously grossed out! C'mon Jo! This is a CHILDREN'S series fr goodness sakes! I can see Laura Mallory throwing a party!! WHY DUMBLEDORE!?! I mean I wouldn't have minded if it was Zacharias Smith! No, really..... Just disapointed... Neville /Hannah? It's cute but I've always preffered Luna/Neville to be honest. And The Petunia thing was obvious...

Okay, so I've thought about this for a little while, and I've decided that it's okay with me if Dumbledore is gay. I happen to be okay with gay people, even though some of my friends hate it, and I was hoping that HP was going to be one of the only things we could like without the issue of homosexuality coming up. But I guess that won't happen...Dumbledore's sexual orientation shouldn't affect our view of his character. He's still Dumbledore. If it bothers you, don't think about it. I guess what I'm saying is, if we are true HP fans, we will accept this.

"but I can't deny that I'm seriously grossed out!" you need some lessons in life. how is homosexuality any more gross than heterosexual love?

ok, im soooo weirded out now by dumbly....was harry his child lover then?

Jk never said she was happy bothering christians. She was laughing at the idea of what all the people who already hate her (which is mostly extreme christians who already hate her because they think she promoting witchcraft) are gonna do now that they found out about Dumbledore being gay. She is a christian herself. I mean come on, you know Laura Mallory is jumping up and down with adrenaline.

Uhhh, GOF, gay does not equal pedophile. My uncle Rob is gay and has been with Uncle Benny for my whole life and they watched me all the time when I was growing up. Does that mean they're pedophiles? Does that mean I'm a fucked up teenage boy who was "turned" gay by abuse? No. The majority of pedophiles are straight males.

sorry,, revengeofpeeves,, xD I never ment that,, I was just talking about the books - Posted by FerN about an hour ago I strongly believe that JKR, like dumbledore, aren't the same person they were once, when they reach fame and power. but why do you creat such a benevolent character if you are gonna destroy him later in the last instance? I don't know,... - Posted by revengeofpeeves about an hour ago Whoa, whoa, whoa FerN. Are you actually saying that revealing that Dumbledore is gay ruins his character? I think revealing (not making) his character is gay makes him an even more rich and interesting character, just like most gay people (like straight people) are rich and interesting people.

my mom told me about dumbledore earlier....and im rereading DH. i was kind of in shock, but not that much...idk why tho. its just so weird...ill never look at him the same as i used to...it didnt really affect the series all that much, him being gay...