Odessa

Author J.K. Rowling stated, when a young fan asked if the solitary Dumbledore would ever find true love: “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.” I'm not up on my Harry Potter lore, but I gather that Mr. Dumbledore has had terrible luck in the love department. If he never had a romantic (or lusting after someone) scene in the entire series, how is his sexuality relevant? And she chooses now to make this revelation now because???

There are many gay people that are in very happy relationships; therefore, being gay does not prohibit someone from finding true love. Her answer does not answer the question posed to her. Perhaps his loneliness is the result of a terribly broken heart (which from what I understand is eluded to), which can happen to homo- and hetero-sexual people alike.

In addition, one joy of books is filling in some of the blanks yourself. Also,we don't always know the private lives of everyone in our life. For example, I don't know with surety the sexual orientation of all my co-worker, my dentist, my docter, my old teachers, etc., etc. Should be likewise with characters in a good book. Maybe Ms. Rowling misses that point.

Furthermore, although many are claiming that this helps an attitude of tolerance toward gays, I see it as almost the opposite. How does a lonely old gay guy, who may have not ever had a meaningful relationship foster tolerance? To me it is says: "Gay people are doomed to grow old, alone, and without love." Tolerance, but only tolerance of someone who is effectively asexual in their homosexually - kind of like how gay priests are supposed to be, and we all know how well that works out in most cases.

Ms. Rowling, have your books not created enough controversy? Need to create a bit more with this little gem? Witchcraft and fags - the Christian right wing-dings now have more or a reason to use your book for kindling.