Dumbledore is gay
If there was going to be a gay character in the Harry Potter books, my money was on Neville Longbottom. Turns out it's Albus Dumbledore.
Neville ends up marrying Hannah Abbot and Dumbledore had a thing for Gellert Grindelwald. Who knew?
Apparently J.K. Rowling, and not many others. The clues were all there, flowing robes, poor judgment, few mentions of any attraction to women. I did find it curious that Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall weren't closer.
Rowling outed Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during the question-and-answer portion of her Book Tour at Carnegie Hall in New York on Friday. She was asked during the book tour if Dumbledore finds true love.
Rowling responded: “Dumbledore is gay,” to gasps and applause, according to The Associated Press.
The following is AP's account of what happened at the Book Tour in New York:
Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.
J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character
Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final
book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds “true love.”
“Dumbledore is gay,” the author responded to gasps and applause.
She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in
a battle between good and bad wizards.
“Falling in love can blind us to an extent,” Rowling said of Dumbledore’s feelings, adding that Dumbledore was “horribly, terribly let down.”
Dumbledore’s love, she observed, was his “great tragedy.”
“Oh, my god,” Rowling concluded with a laugh, “the fan fiction.”
Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore,
noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes
with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.
Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore.
A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.
Rowling, finishing a brief “Open Book Tour” of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said
that she regarded her Potter books as a “prolonged argument for tolerance” and urged her fans to “question
authority.”
Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books
promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.