Religious Debates Over The Harry Potter Series - Dumbledore's Sexual Orientation

Dumbledore's Sexual Orientation

On 19 October 2007, Rowling spoke at New York's Carnegie Hall. When asked by a fan whether Albus Dumbledore, the books' wise mentor-figure, "who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever in love himself", Rowling replied,

"My truthful answer to you … I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. … Dumbledore fell in love with Gellert Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was … falling in love can blind us to an extent … he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him."

The statement was met with an ovation from the audience. "If I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!" Rowling said. In an appearance three days later in Toronto, she responded to questions about Dumbledore's "outing" by saying that she had decided his sexuality "from very early on. Probably before the first book was published."

Christians critical of both Harry Potter and homosexuality responded pointedly to the revelation. Christian author Berit Kjos wrote,

"My first response was, "Thank you, Lord," because this helps us show others that these books should not be used in the churches to illustrate Christianity. Because Dumbledore has been revealed as a homosexual, it helps me communicate my message. It helps Christians who are concerned about the use of Harry Potter books in churches, because it makes it very clear that these books are not intended to be Christian, that Rowling isn't speaking as a Christian. She has introduced values that are contrary to the Biblical message."

Laura Mallory responded to the Rowling's statement by telling U.S. network ABC, "My prayer is that parents would wake up, that the subtle way this is presented as harmless fantasy would be exposed for what it really is: a subtle indoctrination into anti-Christian values … A homosexual lifestyle is a harmful one. That's proven, medically." Linda Harvey, the president of Mission America, an organization which "monitors both the homosexual agenda directed at children as well as paganism among American youth," wrote an opinion piece for WorldNetDaily, asking:

"Will we allow our kids to believe it would be perfectly appropriate for the headmaster of any school to be homosexual? … Will some find ways to re-cast homosexuality into something different than the "abomination" it's called in Scripture? Will it become something more like a sad disability, one that the "mean religious right" targets for nefarious purposes?"

"It's very disappointing that the author would have to make one of the characters gay," said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America, "It's not a good example for our children, who really like the books and the movies. It encourages homosexuality." On 27 October 2007, Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network called for a ban on the books.

Rowling commented on the dispute in an interview with the BBC. "Do I think a gay person can be a moral compass? I think it's ludicrous that we are asking that question in the 21st century. The Christian fundamentalists were never my base."

John Granger, in his blog, reposted the negative reactions of many Christians:

"The media presentation of the event as Ms. Rowling’s endorsement of homosexuality and an anti-faith agenda was straight from Rita Skeeter’s notebook and part of their endless campaign to convince the public that Ms. Rowling is the enemy of their enemy, namely, the Church; the anguished and disappointed response of many Christian readers to these reports was also according to Culture War formula and in keeping with a hyper-extended understanding of the word gay. "Dumbledore is gay" no more makes the books an invitation to homosexuality or contrary to orthodox Christian belief than Sorcerer’s Stone made them a "gateway to the occult."

Catholic fantasy author Regina Doman wrote an essay titled "In Defense of Dumbledore," in which she argued that the books actually support Catholic teaching on homosexuality because Dumbledore's relationship with the dark wizard Grindelwald leads to obviously terrible results, as he becomes interested in dark magic himself, neglects his responsibilities towards his younger sister and ultimately causes her death.

Despite Rowling stating that "he (Dumbledore) is my character and as my character, I have the right to know what I know about him and say what I say about him", a number of commentators have argued that Rowling's claim has no weight, as there is no indication anywhere in the novels of Dumbledore's homosexuality. "Ms. Rowling may think of Dumbledore as gay," said New York Times columnist Edward Rothstein, "but there is no reason why anyone else should." According to John Mark Reynolds, assistant professor of philosophy at Biola University and the founder of Torrey Honors Institute, "there is just no way to know this “fact” about Dumbledore from the books. It is not there, it is not relevant, and Rowling’s opinions about her characters are now only of historical interest". Others doubted that Rowling's claim was true to her original intent, and some considered it a publicity stunt. American writer Orson Scott Card criticised Rowling's revelation as "appallingly hypocritical", saying that "Instead of making us know and understand the character as a gay man, we are slapped with it at the end, as if being gay were just an afterthought".