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Is there somewhere that this interview is transcribed? The Pictures of the interview are extremly hard for me to read :(

OH God, do I love that woman. I agree with almost everything she says; she’s so sensible and clever. No wonder I love the HP books so much. Must see if I can pick up that newspaper!

oh, and carlye gilbert: she didn’t bring it up, she was ASKED about it, from the very first.

Her characters matter a great deal to the fans. That’s why it’s relevant for her to delve into their backstory. I think it’s important to note that DD’s love for Grindelwald was what blinded him and turned him toward the wrong path, whereas Voldemort went that way out of pure hate. That’s why DD is better than Voldemort, it’s why Harry is better also.

that thing about Laura Mallory having not read the books is hilarious and disgusting. how can she try and ban them if she hasn’t read them! the whole thing about Dunbledore is great! I love it! i always thought there was something different about him but this is great. it shows that Jo is fine with it, cause Dumbledore is one of the “good guy”

“It is the first time Jo admits Gellert Grindelwald was gay?”

I dont think she said he was Gay. Certainly a gay boy can have an infatuation with a straight boy.

I remember reading somewhere that Mallory hadn’t read the books. I think that makes her completely unqualified to even discuss the books, let alone to try and ban them. Heck, if I were the person who had to look at her complaints against the books in Georgia, the first thing I would ask is if she read them. When she said she didn’t read them I would dismiss her complaints without giving them any consideration at all. She can’t ask to ban something she knows nothing about.

I hadn’t read that she prayed about whether to read them or not and said God told her not to. I never realized God had so much free time on his hands.

I’m surprised the news that Dumbledore was gay didn’t cause her to keel over. :-)

I think one of the issues that the public has with Dumbledore’s sexuality is that they wonder how Jo came up with the idea in the first place. Did she sit down and consciously say “I’m going to write a gay character”? If so, they wonder “why?” Or did it just come out of the story?...which, then, brings up the question, “how? What MADE her decide that he was gay?”

On the other hand, I do like that Dumbledore’s love is tied into the story (even if the relevance of the Hallows to the series as a whole is questionable). It is completely the opposite of the relevance of Harry’s and Ginny’s relationship, of which we see no justification. We can see the motivations of the infatuation between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but all we ever see of Ginny and Harry are their long hours of snogging. As readers, we never see them talk alone about anything that furthers their relationship. When they do talk, it is with Ron and Hermione, and those conversations never deal with anything that strengthens love.

Corey, she explains in the article:

“It just seemed to come to me, I thought ‘I know why he did it, he fell in love.’”

There doesn’t seem to be a big explanation as to why she decided to make Dumbledore gay… it was just there.

As for Harry, he fell for Ginny because he liked her personality. He was always laughing at the things she said. Of course their love didn’t have a big impact on the plot—it wasn’t supposed to, it was supposed to represent another life for Harry, away from Voldemort, and that’s what it did. It was happiness for Harry.

Where did we see long hours of snogging with Harry and Ginny? I remember exactly two kisses in book 6 and one in book 7. Ginny was infatuated with Harry since their first meeting when she was only 10. Ginny and Harry go waaay back. LOL

The whole article was a really good read. I agree with her on many of the topics she brought up, and also laughed over the “God told me no” bit. That’s just… madness.

I admire the intelligent and thoughtful attitude with which J.K. Rowling approaches everything; the wisdom she exercises is unparalleled. I completely agree with what she said regarding Albus Dumbledore’s sexuality. The fact that the news was sensationalized by the traditional media as much as it was proves how much, we, as an overall society, have yet to progress.

“Whether Dumbeldore is gay or not doesn’t matter. So why did she bring it up, my opinion is to get more pubilcity for herself. “

One should at least try attempting finding out the facts before making statements such as this. SHE didn’t bring it up. She was asked a direct question regarding who Dumbledore loved, and she gave a direct answer.

Corey, to tie Dumbledore to Grindelwald the way JKR did, either Dumbledore had to be gay or Grindelwald had to be female. So, the question is, could JKR have written the story with Grindelwald being female and have the story work out the same way? (At least, to me, that’s the question.)

I think the problem would have been that if Grindelwald were female, Rita Skeeter would, to be believable, have had to grab onto a relationship that was more than friendship between Dumbledore and a female Grindelwald. I think then Rita Skeeter’s book would then have been more about Dumbledore having been in love with the dark witch he defeated, than that he may have believed in the same things as she did. They could have had all the same beliefs and events occur with a female Grindelwald, but Rita’s book would have been less about Dumbledore’s belief than their relationship. It was his beliefs, not his relationship that was important to Harry learning what he needed to. A female Grindelwald it would have got in the way of that, or been a little unbelievable if Rita ignored it.

Just my opinion.

I too would have liked to see more interaction between Harry and Ginny than just snogging, but I think she really couldn’t, as it would start to get too deep for a children’s book.

Wouldn’t it be cool if JKR rewrote all the books aimed at adults?

No adult book? I would be crushed!!

Carlye, she just explained why she brought it. First of all, she was asked if Dumbledore ever loved anyone, and JKR answered it truthfully. In this interview she explains that the reason Dumbledore “flirted” with racial domination is because he fell in love with someone who had those beliefs. It doesn’t matter that he loved another man. What matters is who that person was, what they believed in, and how Dumbledore reacted to their beliefs/actions.

Morga, I couldn’t read it well either, so I cleaned it up. I don’t know if I can post if somewhere, but if anyone wants it, I am willing to email it to them.

Anyone know if there’s a typed transcript I can read somewhere? My poor eyes aren’t making much sense of the scans.

Oh, every time I read one of her interviews, I am so proud to be a part of the potter world at all! I think the thing that bothers me the most is those fundamentalists – it’s a work of FICTION, and the author’s mind should not be open to anyone’s ridiculous criticism. There are so many friends my age (late teens) who say, “Oh, I can’t read Harry Potter. My mom says no.” Ugh.

Oh well! Always excited for the amazing Scottish book!

Just finished reading the whole article. Jo is as lovely and brilliant as always though this interviewer sounds like a jerk! Posing as a fan to get an interview…? Oy.