1. clock
  2. Dumbledore is gay. So is Jim Neal. Big Deal.

Dumbledore is gay. So is Jim Neal. Big Deal.

By clock on October 21, 2007.

Yes, you may have heard the big news that Professor Dumbledore is out of the closet. As if it was big news - it was so obvious. Watch the Far Right throw a hissy-fit about it anyway.

And yes, Jim Neal, the Democratic candidate for Senate, challenging Elizabeth Dole here in North Carolina, is also gay. Not that it is big news, either. Again, watch the Far Right throw a hissy-fit about it anyway. Who but them would care?

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I feel the same way. There's no reason at all to make a big deal out of a dead character's sexual orientation.

It's like Andy Milonakis's "the superbowl is gay" song, only now it's Dumbledore.

Are any of the Hogwarts teachers married (well, Lupin, but not while he was at Hogwarts)? Maybe they're all gay!

This news is not quite as much of a non-event though... not because of the homosexuality per se, but because it moves a tragic relationship from the books firmly into the uber-tragic column. So while 'big deal' is the appropriate response from a societal perspective, from a literary/reader/fan perspective it is pretty significant (though not critical or transformative).

Just saying.

I'm looking forward to the day when TV or movies take up more of Tanya Huff's work. Most of her work is fantasies with magic. The real fantasy element is that quite a few of the characters are gay, and when they fall in love with someone straight, that person is attracted to them, too. Her Blood Ties series of novels is being done on TV this year - I haven't seen it. A couple of the characters are gay or bi. Her "Four Quarters" series would be even better, because in that world, some people are gay, some straight, and no one thinks anything of it. They can marry whom they please.