Dumblebore...

Those who know me well know certain things about me - I love pickles. Purple is my favorite color. I love Harry Potter more than any woman in her 20's really should - akin to that, I love Dumbledore. They also know that many of my personal friends are gay & I'm a huge advocate for gay rights.

But then why do I have such mixed feelings about the recent revelation that Dumbledore is gay? It's not like I never thought it before...there were certainly times that I wondered if he was "part of the family" - my friends and I certainly joked across more than one bottle of wine about why he REALLY kept Snape around. But that's what it was, a joke. We were all hard-core fans that knew it didn't matter who the D-man was getting down with...or IF.

I certainly am not against gay figures in children's lit - and commend it in fact - but something about this post-print reveal is bothering me. Like Rowling had to quarterback-sneak it in...make millions around the world love and revere him and then *oop* he's gay! GASP! And now fans everywhere are combing the texts to either support the claim or refute it to prove that Rowling is making it up. (and while I hate to admit it, a little piece of me wonders if she is...I'd hate to think she'd rehash one of her characters like that! Would she....?)

All that matters to me: I cried when he died, I cried at his funeral. I think I wept more honestly in my bed at 3 AM as the white coffin enclosed Dumbledore than I did at the public wake of some of my own family. I was offended when Voldemort desecrated his grave.

Does it matter if he was gay? HELL NO! Just like it does matter if my friends are gay - his sexual preferences were not central to who he was. It's certainly part of him, but it didn't define him & I'd rather not have a controversy be how he is remembered. I miss all the characters from the series, and am sad I'll never be able to discover them again...

I guess my problem isn't that Dumbledore is gay, but the chance that the most lasting impression about him might be that, and not how great of a character he is. I don't care if he's gay, straight, bi, trans, purple, or sexually ambiguous! I don't want him to be remembered as a scandal...I love him too much for that.