I personally applaud JKR for revealing something like this, knowing that a lot of people might not be too happy about it. I was beyond shocked and I actually thought it was joke. I stared at my computer screen for a good five minutes before realizing that no, it wasn't joke. But learning something like this only makes me appreciate and respect the character of Dumbledore even more. Dumbledore was so reluctant to go to a duel with Grindelwald and now we know why. It must have caused him so much pain to know he was the only one that would be able to put a stop to him and to know, too, that the outcome would not be a good one. Putting such feelings of love aside had to have been hard for him, especially after the whole tragedy with his sister. Furthermore, this piece of information increases the level of variety of characters that the series already has. JKR has managed to create characters with so many different qualities and lifestyles to them and revealing Dumbledore's sexuality only brings the story closer to our everyday reality and makes it easier to connect with. We live in a world with so many different kinds of people, none of whom deserve to be made fun of or ridiculed or judged because they lead a different lifestyle than others. We are all saddened by the fact that Lupin had to face so much discrimination for being a warewolf, a fantasy creature, but the minute JKR reveals that one of her characters is gay, a common occurance in our society, all that sadness and compassion we had for any discrimination disappears? It's hypocritical, I think. So, although shocking, I've no problem with Dumbledore being gay.

I know several gay people. Some of them say they choose to be gay while others say they were born that way. So clearly even in the gay community its debated.

Riiight... they're lying. You do realize that you just accused pretty much all gays of being liars? You need a definition of discrimination? THAT is discrimination. And if they chose to be gay, why can't they choose to become heterosexual again? Is it like throwing yourself off a cliff or something? Or is everyone faced with the decision of their sexuality at a specific age? And btw... i dont kno a ton about religion, but isnt sin generally supposed to be tempting? What pros could someobody possibly think of for deciding to become gay?

okay hermioneismyhero...yeah i'm saying HATEFUL things to you aren't i? i haven't said one insulting thing yet. who are the ones calling people IGNORANT AND HYPOCRITICAL??

Wow guys, see, this is what Tony and Danny are talking about hypocrisy. There is no need for name-calling. I disagree with them as well, but I'm about as thick-skulled about being a Democrat from my raisings as they are on homosexuality. As Vanessa would say, y'all need to SIMMAH

As much as I loved Sirius I always wondered about him. As often as he was described as oh so handsome and a big time rebel, u would think that we would have heard about atleast one big heartbreak on his part. That or the fact that he probably had a Sirius Jr running around somewhere lol.

Oh Lord...the comment box should be cut off for this story. Too many people are going to disagree and fight it out here. I know he's not Gay, I don't like gays, and nothing anyone says here is going to change that. This is like politics. You're all going to fight it out and try to convince the other person you are right when you know that person is not going to change. It's just an excuse to name call. JKR is just weird and very sick for coming up with this. I'm telling you it's a joke.

This changes nothing for me. I see why she left it out, but I can see it. As far as Hannah/Neville...HOORAY!! !!!! Go hufflepuff girls...get the gryffindor hotties. I always knew she had great things in her future. I also knew Petunia had a heart...she couldn't have been that cold.

Harriet_Lily_Snape, stop embarrassing yourself.

Well, Harriet_Lily_Snape, I agree with you on one point: this argument is going nowhere and nobody is going to convince anyone else that there opinion is right, so this whole thing should just end now.

Ummm... my computers malfunctioning, so im not sure if this'll get posted, but... Danny, do you realize that you called a group of people liars w/ no evidence other thatn their sexuality? You need me to define discrimination? THAT's discrimination. btw... a quote from the wonderful mugglecaster Laura: "Did you ever look at somebody and think 'I want to be attracted to this person'? NO: It just happened." Do you decide who you like?

I don't understand why dd being gay has to be a joke....J.K puts real issuses in her books. She intergrates real world issues into the stories. Why not someone being gay? It is really no different from any of the other things she has written about.

JKR: "Dumbledore was gay and in love with Gellert Grindelwald. If I had known this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago." If she had, she would have sold a lot fewer books. I feel misled, and I have lost a lot of respect for Jo and the Harry Potter series. I had a hard time saying goodbye to the end of the series, a hard time letting go. However, this has done it. I no longer desire for more insights into Harry's world. I don't think its any coincidence she waited until after the hype of the final book died away do reveal this travesty. This is a sad day, because Jo has taken what was sure to be an all-time classic, and made it a cheap, liberal publicity stunt. Shame on you, Jo. I thought you had more dignity.

So, let's get off the Gay crap and talk about the other interesting stuff she did say. Personally, I would have preferred Neville with Luna but Hannah is good to. Oh and tolosegt - stop embarrassing yourself.

your right harriet_lily_snape. JK is a little out of line for coming up with this. discrimination is taking rights away from someone. i don't think i took any rights away from any gays by saying they lied. i call my brother a liar when i think he's lying, i'm not discriminating against him. and voldy, when u want something, u want it.

blah....gotta goo...sorry danny, dont wanna leave but i gotta wake up early tmrw bye! goonight!

Funny how the more intelligent and educated the post, the more likely the poster is to be tolerant of all lifestyles. That tells me something.

Harriet_Lily_Snape, everything Dumbledore's done for the fictional wizarding world is now void because he's gay? Stop embarrassing yourself, little ignorant child.

Ok... just because he's gay doesn't mean he's automatically going to want to hit on Harry... seriously. It's not like straight person go after every member of the opposite sex they see. Same goes for gay people. Not to offend anyone who was joking like that, but this is to people who were actually serious.

Harriet_Lily_Snape, dannyrob15 just agreed with you. You are doomed and forever will be seen as homophobic :P

Neville and Hannah will start off alot of fanfic as well. I can see a few Neville/Luna/Hannah love triangles popping up but i wont be writing about any of these, adding it into a story possibly, but not fully around it. and just think if all this is coming out imagine what else there is we dont know! That encyclopedia is going to be glorious! What i would do to go into that room where she keeps all the Harry Potter stuff!

I agree with tolosegt, DD being gay doesnt make anything he has done for everyone is the wizarding world less meaningful. It doesnt change any of his actions or his beliefs that so many rallied behind him on.

Tony_the_Terrible - That was the best post all day. I'm through with Harry Potter now. She has to know now that we as the first generation of fans are not going to let our children read it now that we, who believe homosexuality is a sin, which is also 92% of the people in the United states I may add, know her dirty little secret. She knew that people would never have made her series so popular if she published this story in the beginning. If she truly believes in this new cause of her, she would not have been a coward and waited until now to say it. She is only posing for the liberals out there. Shame Jo Shame.

well yeah i decide who i like. i think, well this girl is cool and this girl isn't. i like the girl thats cool. thats deciding is it not? anyway this discussing is getting really annoying. and its 12:34am where i am. so i gotta go to bed. texas plays early tomorrow.

Danny: Theres a difference between calling one person a liar based on evidence and calling a group of people liars based off of no evidence but your own beliefs. Thats just sickening. And Tony: Since when is every book with a gay character a liberal publicity stunt? If a book has a jewish character and their religion is never brought into play, is it a book preaching about anti-semitism? I think its absolutely ridiculous that you can dislike a book series as amazing as Harry Potter because one character happens to be gay. How much more homophobic can someone get?

Agreed, shortstuf. I'm a heterosexual female, and I would say I am not attracted to a solid 90% at least of the males I meet. From homosexuals and bisexuals I know, it's about the same for them.

I would have liked Neville and Luna to end up together, too! But Luna and Dean were looking quite cute towards the end! Wonder if Harry and the gang get discounts at the Leaky Cauldron now? As for Petunia, I wish she had had the guts to tell Harry what she was going to say. Dudley was man enough, why couldn't Petunia show the love and understanding that she once had for her sister?

Being in love and going out are two very different things, dannyrob15.

Laura Mallory's gonna freak out about this. (Dumbledore) And you know that it's gonna get worked into the movies. Cheers, Neville!

ctigers12 --- I was wondering the same thing. Petunia must have really hated her sister to not even in the end, when she knew the danger, would have even said good luck. It was a shame. But now the whole series has been shamed.

I think it is funny that everyone keeps bringing up what will the children think card. I have a 8 yr old daughter who loves hp. I told her that DD was gay, her reaction, a simple cool and a shrug of indifference. DD's sexuality doesnt change her opinion of hp. Children dont care whether someone is straight, gay, or bi. It is the parents that have such a huge issue with it.

In response to this absolutely disgusting, insulting, and horrific comment: Posted by dannyrob15 about an hour ago i don't appreciate this suddeness for dumbly to be gay. i guess killing grindelwald was a way of showing his love for him. idk. i will look at dumbly's dusty face and think: did he ever rape harry? did he take pics of harry and hide them in his 50 foot long beard? what if he shaved his whiskers off? would there be a tatoo of harry doing the samba? gay ppl. are taking over the world. but we will stand and fight. WHAT IN THE HECK POSSESSED YOU TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!?!!?? All gay men are NOT pedophiles, they are NOT rapists, they do NOT "take pictures of boys and shove them up their beards". Last time I checked, the "mentors" that seem to be getting in tight spots lately (no pun intended) are CATHOLIC PRIESTS! URGH, the amount of bigotry in this thread is making me sick. LETS GET A FEW THINGS STRAIGHT: 1 - the FACT that Dumbledore just so happened to feel romantically inclined towards men DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THE STORY. Sorry to bust your bubbles, but there isn't going to be a sudden pop-up in Philosopher's Stone saying "Oh hi Harry, I'm gay by the way, just thought you should know. " Canon is still the same. He's still the same, wonderful, intelligent and brave person. A PERSON'S SEXUALITY DOES NOT DEFINE WHO THEY ARE. 2 - Why would this change how children see the book? Is homosexuality to be hidden from children?? It's a part of society, people! Accept it! It exists, and it's about LOVE! Somone mentioned earlier that "homosexuality involves talking about sex" or something along those lines. Gays and lesbians and transexuals and queer identified people in general are not all about sex!! I ask you this: when your child asks why Mommy and Daddy are together, you say, "because we love eachother", or something along those lines, correct? So what's the difference?! YOU DON'T CHOOSE WHO YOU LOVE.

Here's a suggestion: How about we limit the discussion on the HARRY POTTER SITE to only harry potter FANS? If you all hate Harry Potter because Dumbledore is gay, what are you still doing an a HP fansite? Go somewhere else. Potter-haters do not belong on mugglenet. I'm leaving now, but I'd like to say one thing: As a diehard HP fan, I will always love Dumbledore. If you let something trivial like this get in your way... you really aren't fans, are you?

dannyrob15, are you 13? Immature for 15, maybe? I surely hope not everyone in Texas is as closed-minded as you are and thinks going out with someone because they're cool and loving someone is the same. Because it's not. You're saying most South-Americans think the same and that is scary. I hope humanity will get better with time because this is really depressing.

well said, voldy1788

Harriet_Lily_Snape, weren't you the one that wanted to stop talking about Dumbledore being gay and talk about the other irrelevent information JKR gave us? - "But now the whole series has been shamed." OMG, what were you thinking?? Please stop posting, because your posts are filled with hate and discrimination. It's about time you grew up.

Harriet_Lily_Snape, I think your estimate of 92% of the US population is VERY severely overstated. I don't know the real number, but I'd wager it is much closer to 50% or less. Granted, I live in a very liberal city, in a blue state, but considering how close the last two elections have been, and the fact that homosexual marriages are now legal in two states, I really don't think that only about 1/10 people in the US think homosexuality is not a sin. I personally will buy this book for my children, although I don't know if I'll tell them that Dumbledore is gay. But that's really just because I don't know how I'd bring it up. "Mommy, will you read me the next chapter of Harry Potter? PLEASE?" "Ok, Johnny, now get into bed. By the way, Dumbledore likes guys."

I agree Merrick26! And I think children are understimated too, even JKR has said so in the past. Besides, what future generations will think of Dumbledore being gay will depend largely on what this generation of young people will teach their children about the topic of homosexuality. Sadly enough, many who know say that the series has been spoiled for them will probably not even bother to tell their kids about Harry Potter because of it, which in turn only causes discrimination in their kids.

Voldy: The fact that the character is gay is not what I was referring to as a liberal publicity stunt. It was the fact that the entire book series came to a close before she enlightened her audience the truth about one of the most popular characters. That "convenient" witholding qualifies as propaganda, and is, therefore, a publicity stunt. Furthermore, who are you to decide for me what reason is, or is not, rediculous to like, or dislike, a book series? Def: Homophobia-fear of sameness, construed as fear of homosexuals. At what point did I express fear? I simply expressed my beliefs.

i most definitely fell in love with dumbledore, i always wanted him to be my grandpa, i never thought he was gay, i always pictured him being alone because he loved and lost (with a woman), and now just wanted to focus on hogwarts, i always thought him and McGonagall had a thing going there....i was wrong dead wrong.....a little disappointed to be honest, nothing against gays, but i just dont see dumbledore packing another dudes ass.....

Dumbledore always had an air of being a bit eccentric...

I live in Ga, the part I live in is what is refered to the bible-belt of the south. Yet just about everyone I know is very open-minded with gays. It is more of a to eaches own type deal. Infact I know many people in many other states with the same type of mind so I dont agree with the statement that 92% of Americans are against gays.

Harriet_Lily_Snape: It is a shame that Petunia couldn't get over her issues with Lily. Harry could have used that extra bit of support from such an unlikely source. Can you imagine his expression?? First Dudley, then his Aunt? Might have been too much for him! Ha! As for the whole series being shamed.....we shall have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. I still love the series, and there's not much that Jo could throw at us that would make me turn on books that I've loved for so many years, and have put so much time into analyzing. I got into them quite a few years ago when I was in college, and they've been a constant source of enjoyment to me, and will continue to be for years to come. That's just one person's opinion though.

Sophie_black: As an aside, you just called someone from Texas a "South-American". Please remember that there is a difference between the southern US, and South America, because, well, it is a separate continent.

Something has been annoying me for a while. I know what phobia means, but "homophobia" is actually the only word ending with "phobia" that expresses hatred before fear. That is so because we often hate what we fear, but still, homophobia stand for the hatred and the prejudices that exists against homosexuality. Stop saying "I'm a big guy, I do not fear those fags" because you can be homophobic without fearing them by just hating them, and also, not of you big guys-not-afraid, why don't you want to see them and hear about them and touch them if not from fear they will contaminate you or your children with they "horrible lifestyle" or anything similar. That is STILL a form of fear.

yeah, i said i was leaving, but i couldn't resist 1 more post. Tony: Did you consider the idea that she waited to reveil it so that only the big fans would hear and they wouldn't be as judgemental? If she'd mentioned it earlier, the Laura Mallorys of the world would have been all over her. And yes, you do not fear gay people. Don't worry, I'm not insulting your macho-ness. I was using the word "homophobe" because there isn't a well-known word for "person who discriminates against gay people."

Hey, I'm just having fun pissing you all off. You all take this Harry Potter stuff way tooooo seriously! I hope that, at least a small percentage, realizes that this is a fictional character and that you can make the ending whatever you want. If you want Dumbledore to have a pink hand instead of a black one, you can come up with that. That's the beauty of fiction. However, as I read further, and I am enjoying throwing my comments out there to see your reactions, I see that you are all talking like Dumbledore is a real person. Who gives a flying panda what the "Fictional" Dude does in his bed. This conversation is going to be sited in my Master's Thesis.

Honestly...did people actually READ the books? I think some of us need to go back and take a closer look at the message JK's trying to project...these reactions just utterly disgust me.

i'm watching the first harry potter movie right now, "sunshine, daisies, butter mellow....turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" haha that part just happened...i think this is my favorite movie out of all of them, i'm sure six will kick ass, but watching the first one makes me all warm inside, i think it captures the magic of the books the best visually....it's enchanting i love it...

Tony_the_Terrible : Sorry, just that in French (maybe it's not the same thing in English) someone living in the US is called an "American" so I thought using the term "South American" was logical. I understand how that may be misleading. What should I call someone living in the southern US?