“Wow Phil… get over yourself. Posted by Candy on October 21, 2007 @ 07:53 AM “
“I am not here for a gay is okay/not okay debate. I am talking about Bill first comments about children. JK has now made it necessary for me to explain what being gay is to my six year old. Do you think thats okay? Posted by Candy on October 21, 2007 @ 07:48 AM “
I see the irony, Candy.
Candy, I really don’t think you’re listening. How is explaining that some daddies marry mommies and some daddies marry daddies or whatever any different than telling your children that you love your partner? Or why the sky is blue?
But I’ve already said this, and you’re clearly not listening. You’re the one who said “gay is okay.” I’m merely confused about your contradictory remarks. If it’s okay for people to be gay, or black, or white, or female, then why isn’t it okay to tell your children that? If you don’t think it’s okay to be gay, then please don’t say you do. Overt -isms are far more easy for victims to deal with than covert.
Meissa – gay children are fine, but grape jelly is just wrong and anyone who likes it is a deviant and should be shunned from our society. ew.
I think I lost a bet with a friend of mine about Dumbledore… (whom is also gay:P) On the other hand, he also predicted that Harry was, so I guess we’re kind of equal now… I love the fact that we finally get some more info!
Candy – JK hasn’t forced you to explain that Dumbledore is gay at all. It’s not even in the bloody books! A fan asked a quetion about Dumbledore’s love life, and JK gave an honest answer to the fan. Dumbledore loved a man, and he happened to be a homosexual. This is not even written so in the books – only vaguely alluded to.
However, you will apparently, as you say, have to explain the myriad of heterosexual relations that happen in the book. It’s not like all of those happened perfectly. There were breakups, jealousy and what not. I don’t see you complaining about that.
If this is the reaction to a FICTIONAL character being gay, I can’t imagine how bad the reaction from HP fen will be when Daniel Radcliffe comes out. He’s going to have to go into witness protection!!
Candy, as a personal note: I don’t look down on you. I was homophobic as a kid. You know why? Because my parents taught me to be, and said things just like you the things you say. But when I was 15 someone talked to me just the way I’m talking to you, and, finally, I opened my eyes and realized how much I could hurt someone else when I said things like “gay people are fine, and I care about them, but they just shouldn’t be teachers or whatever.”
Good thing too, because I would’ve really ended up hating myself for not being straight when I finally figured out why my heart leapt and my tummy filled with butterflies when a girl I liked would smile at me.
ow, and after reading a lot of anti-gay-comments: People say that it’s wrong for Jo to say this abou her characters…. I’m sorry, but weren’t we the fan-community who always wants to ask more??? Be true to yourself when answering this question: If Jo had said that Dumbledore had known love and it had been a random girl, would you also have a problem with that? And I’m sorry Candy, but I don’t see the problem with explaining to you kids. Maybe you want to keep them innocent or something, but explaining to them what homosexuality is, won’t make your kid grow up faster or something. How hard is it to say that a man can lova a woman, a man can lova a man and a woman can love a woman??
All these comments are ridiculous. I have gay friends, but do not think this should be in a chilren’s book. Another blatant attempt to push a lifestyle.
Telling your children homosexuality exists does not make them gay. They’ll be either heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or possibly even transgender. You telling them about any of these will not have any influence about what they become and are. I’ve had to repeat this several times now, but I was told about so many heterosexual things and it didn’t turn me in to a heterosexual at all!
I am just looking forward to see the countless Dumbledore costumes on the next Christopher Street Day !! :) There’s going to be Dumbledore’s Army, really ;)
(and by now, many parents may have decided not to let their son dress as Dumbledore to the next costume party :S ) To be true to you, I am straight, but who cares?
Chris—You might want to inform your gay friends that you see them as choosing a lifestyle when they fall in love with someone, that you don’t see their gayness as just being something that’s natural about them. You also might want to mention to them that you don’t think characters who are like they are in one way belong in the books.
Also, it seems you shouldn’t be reading the books at all, as they’re filled with heterosexuality and that whole “lifestyle.”
Are you all so afraid of something that truly does exist in the world, something that has no affect on you personally that you’ll condemn this author of a series of wonderful children’s books simply because she included something REAL in her character planning (not even the actual novels!)?
Are you so intolerant that you’ll insult an entire group of people for the same reason? Are you so afraid of your children gaining knowledge of the workings of the world around them that you’ll take the time to do this on a public forum?
Are you so blind to the message of love and tolerance that was prevalent in these books that you’ll spend your time insulting the truth of the novelist’s canon?
Do we honestly have the time to waste with this hate?
I’m insulted on so many levels that I don’t know where to start.
If not for the fact that my parents, who are wonderful role models, by the way, made a decision not to shield (I hate using this verb here, because it makes it sound like there’s something awful to shield me from) me from the truth that some men like men, just as some women like men, just as some men like women, just as some women like women, I’d have likely been very confused when I began to realize that I am a gay man. Because they allowed me to discover and explore the truth about the world and about myself, I had a happy adolescence (a great feat, considering how horrible adolescence is for so many people). To cut this short (I want you all to read this instead of ignoring it because it’s too long), yes, I think it’s okay for you to have to tell your children that homosexuals exist. There’s nothing wrong with homosexuality (reality check: it’s natural to be homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual or anything else), so why should it be an issue?
Next, how is it that homosexuality equates to not being innocent? I’m a gay virgin at the age of 18. I don’t have much desire to change that… yet. Most of my heterosexual friends had sex by the time they were 15. Many of the people that picked on me when I was in high school because I’m gay had sex at the age of 13 or even younger. I need to know what you mean by “innocence” to argue effectively, but if you mean to say the same bigotry that has been spouted at me time and time again about how “gays are promiscuous and ruin the innocence of everyone they meet,” I have argued my point.
I think that bigotry is one of the things that ruins innocence the most quickly.
That said, I think the thing that I’m most insulted by is the inclusion of this argument in the comments page of a news post. I know that I’ve been taking part in it, too, but it’s kind of hard not to react defensively in this situation with people slinging insults at me (no, not even me, personally. That I can deal with. You’re not even giving a face to the people you’re insulting. You’re slinging insults at an entire group of people without even giving the dignity of saying it to any specific member).
You know, if you want to have an argument about homosexuality somewhere else, I won’t be this insulted. Heck, I’ll even join in the argument, but this level of bigotry is going to be exposed to a lot of children and young adults who still do have a certain level of innocence that the entire argument is likely to destroy. I’d like to say that it’s the bigotry and remove myself from that same destruction, but that wouldn’t be true. It’s the way we all argue through backhanded insults and destructive comments.
Nothing constructive comes out of arguing like this, and I feel ashamed to have taken part in it here, where it’s easily accessed by anyone.
For all those folks out there who think it’s a shame that she had to “reveal” the sexual orientation of DD. Or as Lee put it quite generally: “As a writer I don’t think it proper to reveal a major charactor’s sexual orientation. It’s just shabby.”
Errrr… what about all those love stories revolving around THE three major characters in the book? Is it “shabby” to reveal their sexual orientation as well?
How narrow minded people can get is just beyond me.