[ SECRET POST #2216 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2216 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 120 secrets from Secret Submission Post #317.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[making_excuses]

Ah this again:

You don't have to tell people about your sexuality, ever not in real life not in fiction. A character (or person) can be gay without actually running around saying it constantly.

Oh and this reminds me of the Neil Gaiman (?) book where basically every character was black, he just never mentioned their race. And people got angry with him for not saying it.

Anyway where was I? Oh right: Dumbledore was the HEAD MASTER! when should he have come out in the books? During his speeches? Or his talks with Harry? I would have loved to see that written: "Welcome to Hogwarts! I hope you will have a great semester, oh and btw I like men." or "Harry, you know Voldemort is trying to kill you and we have to figure out a way to stop it. Oh and before I forget, I like dudes."

[(Anonymous)]

"you know harry, you being so bummed out about cedric dying reminds me of how I felt when my boyfriend died. not trying to make this about me, but I'm just sayin'"

"so that's why destroying the horocruxes are vital if you don't want everyone you love to be terrorized by voledmort forever and did I mention how gay I am, just thought I'd throw that in"

[(Anonymous)]

I know I'm not the only one who saw the subtext of Dumbledore's sexuality practically underlined in every backstory page in DH anyway.

[making_excuses]

So did I dear Anon...

[(Anonymous)]

SA

Honestly, I figured that subtext was the closest we were going to get to a canon queer character. Doge's obvious crush, young Albus's straight up obsession with Grindelwald to the point that it changed his personality, it all just screamed GAY GAY GAY at me and I figured that fandom of all places would, you know, read subtext where subtext was written.

But apparently it's not between the lines unless it's with someone young and hot IDK?

I am so tired of this wank. I am so tired of ALL HP wanks. I hate this one especially, though.

[(Anonymous)]

I think a significant slice of fandom did read it that way, but holy shit, before JK, creators have responded very badly to the idea that someone as near and dear to their personal ideals as the central mentor might be gay. So it wasn't getting hardly any consideration as something she might have done on purpose until she outright confirmed that she did.

I'm with you that there's too much shipping for the pretty, and plausible, interesting relationships get lost in the shuffle (Delphi's Filch/Snape, omg). But I don't think that accounts for what was going on here.

[(Anonymous)]

It's funny. Too guys stare at each other for a few seconds, some people yell "Gay subtext!"

Actual gay subtext? Flies over their head.

[(Anonymous)]

I saw it and promptly ignored it again because I had seen the same thing when Sirius was all heart-eyes for James in that one memory. Since that was apparently all in my head, I thought I was once again only seeing what I wanted to see with Dumbledore/Grindlewald (and Elphias Doge).

[fenm]

when should he have come out in the books? [...] Or his talks with Harry?

You know that during one of his talks with Harry, he specifically talks about the man he was in love with, right? So, yeah, that actually would have been a perfectly natural time for it to come up. Hell, he could have even stated in a way that was ambiguous enough not to freak out the homophobes (much)... "I loved him" instead of "I was in love with him" Both are correct, but the former has enough room for people to interpret it in different ways that don't require you to read him as "gay",

[making_excuses]

Why? Is it really something a mentor should talk about?

[fenm]

DD talks about how he got caught up Grindlewald and his ideas and philosophies; telling Harry he loved Grindlewald would go a long way in explaining why. So, yes, in context, I think it would have been perfectly fine for him to mention it.

[making_excuses]

And I don't. And we will never agree on this.

[(Anonymous)]

The book is Anansi Boys, and it's pretty fucking obvious that almost all the characters are black.

[making_excuses]

Oh thank you! I think I actually own that book, just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Not for everyone apparently, I read something (probably an interview or blog post by Neil himself) where they talked about some kind controversy because of that book.

[(Anonymous)]

The controversy-thing I heard was that some movie studio wanted to make a movie of the book, but wanted to make the characters white instead, so Gaiman said no way in hell.

[(Anonymous)]

The Neil Gaiman book was Anansi Boys, and I still can't believe that wank ever occurred. Mr. Nancy was black, of course his sons would be. People are straight up dumb sometimes.

[making_excuses]

WAIT! It was that obvious? People are seriously stupid at times.

I really need to get around to reading that book...

[(Anonymous)]

Not inherently? Or is this one of those things where 'Mixed kids don't exist'?

[(Anonymous)]

Point conceded but I guess my point is "It would be dumb to assume they would be white" and forgive the mis-phrasing. It's heavily implied that their mother is black, though, but the only one we go into the book knowing for SURE when it comes to race is Mr. Nancy, which is why I said what I said. Basically the whole cast is implied to be black.

[(Anonymous)]

But on the other hand: why did it have to be only Dumbledore? Why did it have to be only the headmaster and father-figure, who, as you explain, would have had no opportunity to mention or express his sexuality? We hear about Snape's undying love for Lily, and are privy to Hagrid courting Madame Olympe, and we hear all about Remus and Tonks - adults in authority were certainly not off-limits to having in-text love lives, and neither were any of the hundreds of students, so...why did she pick the oldest, wisest, and least-likely-to-have-a-sex-life character to be the only gay character? Why couldn't it have also been somebody else? Why couldn't somebody have had a same-sex partner in passing?

Intentional or not, she picked the character that would be the most inconspicuous without a mentioned love life.

[(Anonymous)]

He's also a hugely central character without whom none of the story would have taken place. (Let's not go into the "Dumbledore is Evil Chessmaster" bit, please, though I just set you or anyone else up for it.) Voldemort was trounced twice because of his efforts. Many lives were saved. And oh, by the way, he was gay.

I actually think mentioning it as an afterthought after showing us this AMAZING character on the side of Good is better, because it shows assholes and bigots that even a gay person can do massive amounts of good without getting gay germs all over everything and being obviously gay.

Seriously, would you have preferred an offhand mention to Fred or George making out with Lee Jordan, or Blaise Zabini talking about his boyfriend at Slug Club, to THAT?

[(Anonymous)]

But why not have both? It's statistically impossible for Dumbles to be the only gay character in Harry Potter, considering there are dozens and dozens of characters.