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Rowling drops the gay bomb

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Oli:
I'm not sure Harry Potter could get anymore publicity and/or hype than it has already.

0bsessions:
Beyond all that, outright stating his sexuality in the book would've come off as entirely forced and out of place. I can see exactly where she's coming from after reading book seven. The implications are there for anyone willing to connect the dots.

I can't really picture a scenario in the book where it really would've been at all relevant to the story to have him come out without it coming off as creepy. Honestly, outside of a handful of characters, sexuality wasn't really even touched on. Given, some relationships were there, but nobody felt the need to say "Hey, I'm straight."

This is the difficulty of portraying homosexuality in media. You either play a constant guessing game and constantly imply shit or you just make it gratuitous and out of place in anything other than a long serialized plotline. As an example, the first outted comic book superhero was Northstar of Alpha Flight/X-Men. They hinted at and inferred his sexuality often for the better part of a decade or so before having him finally come out of the closet. This worked because it was a natural progression and it'd been built to and didn't read like pure shock for the sake of it. He was a superhero, but he also happened to be gay. Conversely, the garbage that was Will and Grace handled it about as poorly as possible. The gay characters were just there BECAUSE they were gay. Their only big defining characteristics were being gay stereotypes.

Basically, it's very rare in the real world that one's sexuality is what defines them as a person, yet in the media, it's typically a characters definition.

KharBevNor:
Conversation in my kitchen at lunch today:

ME: Hey, you read Harry Potter right?
HOUSEMATE #1: Yeah?
ME: Did you hear the news?
HOUSEMATE: What, about Dumbledore being gay?
ME: Yeah!
(HOUSEMATE #2 WALKS IN)
HOUSEMATE #2: Hey! Hey! Guess what guys?
ME: Dumbledores gay?
HOUSEMATE #2: Oh :(

His Dark Materials spoilers below, in case anyone minds that sort of thing...

They could possibly skirt around gay angels, but I can't see any way you could have anything approaching a similiar plot in the third book without the main characters GOING TO WAR AGAINST GOD AND KILLING HIM.

McTaggart:
Were there actually two genders of angels? I got more of a "it's your thoughts and actions that define you as a person rather than your genitalia" feel from it rather than any of the angels being male nor homosexual.

Wait, I think maybe one of them was referred to as 'she' at some point so there goes my take on things. Whatever.

Ally:
Moving this to the book forum because it really is about books. Guys, if you think something is interesting, it doesn't necessarily need to go into I Like Fish. Pleassse let's give the other subforums some love?

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