Dumbledore comes out

For some time now, Christians have argued that Harry Potter books are a bad influence toward children with the magic and sorcery theme because it promotes the work of the devil. Now, they might have something to argue about again, this time dealing with Dumbledore’s sexuality.

JK Rowling announced during a reading at Carnegie Hall in New York that Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay, according to USA Today.

"I always saw Dumbledore as gay," Rowling said in answer to a fan's question about whether the wizard ever found love, reported USA Today.

The fans reaction was quite surprising to me. According to the article, “The crowd of about 2,000 hardcore Harry fans, who had won tickets through a nationwide drawing, exploded in screams and applause at the news.”

I would’ve expected a different response from the fans, not that the first one is a bad one. But when you look at all the Harry Potter books, it seems like Dumbledore is depicted as a very masculine character who served as a strong father figure for the students, and now being announced that he's gay adds a feminine side to him.

I also didn’t think that announcing Dumbledore’s sexuality was an important move for Rowling because it shouldn’t have mattered. The book allows children to use their imagination and they should be able to picture the characters in their head without wondering what sexual orientation they are. If anything, she added more controversy toward her books and gave another reason for parents to ban Harry Potter books from their homes.

The article also mentions how Rowling wanted to break prejudices in the book since they exist in society, which I can understand. But the book is about flying wizards and a magical school, where does that part exist in society?

If Rowling wanted to come out with a political statement about how everyone should be free to be who they are, then she should’ve done it through some other way, not through a fictional character who fights dark arts.