JK Rowling under fire from US Bible belt after outing Dumbledore as gay

JK Rowling under fire from US Bible belt after outing Dumbledore as gay

JK Rowling may be a saint to millions of children and their parents, but today she is a sinner to a large slice of middle America.

The 42-year-old Harry Potter author has become a hate figure to Christian evangelicals in the US since she outed Albus Dumbledore as gay.

The mother-of three, who is worth £545 million, told a New York audience that the much loved head of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizadry was homosexual.

Talk shows in the Bible Belt have condemned her, web-sites have reviled her, and newspaper letter columns have been filled with complaints.

And there are fears it may affect profits at Warner Bros who have a further two films to make and a dvd on sale this Christmas.

Roberta Combs, president of the two million strong Christian Coalition of America, said: "It's very disappointing that the author would have to make one of the characters gay.

"It's not a good example for our children, who really like the books and the movies. I think it encourages homosexuality."

She called for a ban on the books, saying : "I would never allow my own children or grandchildren to read the books or watch the movies, and other parents should do so too."

Jack M. Roper on television evangelist Pat Robertson's CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) which called for a ban on Rowling's book, yesterday said: "Harry Potter, an orphaned witch, is one hero who has captured the innocent heart of many children.

"When such a hero uses evil as a problem solving tool, we need to be warned.

"Over time the child can become adapted to the dark world of witchcraft and not even know that it is dangerous.

"As a cult researcher for many years, I have seen contemporary witchcraft packaged in many seductive forms, and Harry Potter is the best.

"Potter makes spiritualism and witchcraft look wonderful."

One website received over 3,000 postings in a day - typical was the message: "I am a christian who supported these books as they brought the joy of reading back to sooooo many kids and adults.

"Now, I will make sure I throw away all the copies I have, and no one in my family will ever read that trash again. What a huge disappointment and great loss for so many kids who could have enjoyed these books.

"She just ensured that many, many, more people will not buy these books.

"Not only has she destroyed a great hero, but she has tarnished the entire series."

On-line reaction from some former fans has been vitriolic. Melissa Anelli, of The Leaky Cauldron Web site, said: "My inbox is full of people who wish to let me know that I'm scum for supporting this 'outing,; that J.K. Rowling should go back to the devil who spawned her, etc.

"It's really disgusting. We're trying to simply ignore it."

The revelation came during a question and answer session at Carnegie Hall. Rowling was asked: "Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?"

She answered: "My truthful answer to you... I always thought of Dumbledore as gay."

And afterwards she added: "I know that it was a positive thing that I said it, for at least one person, because one man 'came out' at Carnegie Hall. I'm not kidding."

Industry commentators noted that the outing came too late to affect publication of the seventh and final episode in the series Harry Potter and the All Hallows, which sold over 12m in the US alone.

They have sold over 335 million books in all.

But Harry Potter has been a bigger success on screen, with with five films so far grossing $4.47 billion - £2.3 billion - making it the biggest movie franchise ever.

Rebecca Traister, columnist on salon.com said. "It is possible it will have an impact, but pester power from children may win out.

"Christian evenagelists take a lot of things very badly. There has always been a very vocal group of people in the United Stateswho have objected to the Harry Potter books.

"It was a very smart thing to make this announcement after the books were finished. It is a neat trick philopsophicaly, but also economically to do it once all the kids that might have been kept away from the material have already read it."

Deborah Netburn of Hollywood's home town paper, the Los Angeles Times, added: "It felt like really big news that Dumbledore was gay. I don't think anyone had any inkling, and people were taken by surprise.

"People on the Christian right were already saying 'you can't read Harry Potter because magic is sacreligous.' This is a gift for them."

Yesterday a spokesman for Warner Bros said: "It's not something we would normally comment on."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...=1766&ito=1490

Permit me a moment to laugh. Well, maybe a bit longer.

And permit me a moment to go through the article with my red pen, correcting mistakes. The Daily Mail isn't the best of papers.

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I think this is hilarious, to be perfectly honest, and it serves well to point out how ridiculous these evangelicals can be. I mean, come on. To have read the whole series (of "episodes", as the Daily Mail has so eloquently put it *guffaw*), and bought the books and seen the films, to suddenly ban them from your house, and stop your family from reading them because a character may be "gay"? Come off it. I have to say, though, that I particularly like the description of homosexuality being "evil", and how it's used as a "problem solving tool". You have to admit, these people really do have a way with words!

I think it's worth noting that JKR replied to the question with, "My truthful answer to you... I always thought of Dumbledore as gay." Not that he is gay, or that she had written the character as gay, but that she thinks of him as gay. It might sound silly to some of you, but when you write things, they come alive and have a mind of their own. You could sit down with a solid plan, but something will find a way around it, and the story will tell itself differently. It's kind of... organic, if you will.

In a nutshell, because I'm tired, and because I want to go to bed - HAHA!! Crazy Bible Bashers.

EDIT: Oh dear... I'm turning into Raziel! I'm using italics in a post where I ridicule the ridiculous. Wailey, wailey!

I think by saying that Harry used "evil" as a problem solving tool, they were refering to witchcraft.

Either way, this is ridiculous, and completely to be expected. I really just don't see what the big deal is. Reading a book that has a gay character in it is not going to turn kids gay. Hell, evidence seems to point to the fact that you can't even be TURNED gay. For instance, kids raised by homosexual parents are no more likely to be gay than kids raised by straight parents. There are studies that show this.

People need to stop being dumb. Especially religious ones.

Yeah, I knew this would happen, I called it the day it was posted here, although it wasn't exactly a difficult guess.

People can't stop being dumb, it's pretty much human nature.

No it's AMERICAN nature to be dumb. Last time I checked the Chinese had quite a few books with gay titular heroes but then again you guys still think they kill all blonde children even though a movie made in 2000 has a blonde chinese actor and the director was chinese and it was filmed in china. Of course you guys also still think that the chinese nazi party and the redgaurd are still in power, even after I took all that time helping to hunt them down...oops oh my god another fact you may not know is that there were other white people in the chinese army besides myself...my god I don't want to wreck your world all in one go but it's so hard since you guys are so stupid.

Just thought I would elaborate how stupid AMERICANS are now days and how it makes me sick to think I was born and raised for my entire childhood here in this propaganda infested hell hole.

Why don't you tell us how you really feel?

If you don't like it: leave.

Pretty simple concept huh?

If you don't like it: leave. Pretty simple concept huh?

Yea, but the entire concept is flawed, about as unamerican as it gets, and overall bullshit.

No it's AMERICAN nature to be dumb

Not all of us.

If you guys hadn't heard, stereotyping makes you cool.

If you guys hadn't heard, stereotyping makes you cool.

Oh, that's why he did it.

Why else would he do it? He's clearly not dumb enough to believe in stereotypes, he's not in America.

Yea, but the entire concept is flawed, about as unamerican as it gets, and overall bullshit.

But seriously, if all you do is bitch and moan and whine about how you hate America and you're not trying to actively change it, why stay here? You're not helping yourself or anybody else for that matter by continually bitching.

I understand the comment I made is borderline arrogant, but I stand by it. I, personally, don't like the way the government runs MOST things in this country and I do on occassion vent my frustrations but it seems as if hotdog's whole outlook on America is so hate-filled and redundant that he should just simply: get the fuck out OR try to make a difference. He reminds me of one of those kids that goes ballistic and takes out half his school.

The role of government is... oh, fuck it. Nevermind.

Well, from a more pragmatic standpoint, you could be living in a less than ideal, or much less than ideal situation, yet it can be better than the alternatives. It can also cost way more than its worth to do anything to change your situation, i.e. leaving the country, or trying to change the place. Realistically, you're not going to change anything regardless of how much information you promulgate or how emphatically you protest unless you get lucky. So what's left to do? Bitch.

The sentiment that if you bitch about something then you should let it go is ridiculous. People bitch about life all the time. It's far easier to leave life than leaving a country. Just jump of a building. But I would not advocate people doing that. I don't see how the sentiment of "if you don't like this country, leave" makes any more sense than "if you don't like this life, leave."

It is no coincidence that most Americans feel that there is nothing they can do, that they are powerless, that there is no way out. It does not get much easier for government to overstep its boundaries than when the entire populace feels that they cannot do anything about it. I am not insinuating, I am clearly stating, that this is a coordinated attack on our will. The media does a lot to further this.

But seriously, if all you do is bitch and moan and whine about how you hate America and you're not trying to actively change it, why stay here? You're not helping yourself or anybody else for that matter by continually bitching. I understand the comment I made is borderline arrogant, but I stand by it. I, personally, don't like the way the government runs MOST things in this country and I do on occassion vent my frustrations but it seems as if hotdog's whole outlook on America is so hate-filled and redundant that he should just simply: get the fuck out OR try to make a difference. He reminds me of one of those kids that goes ballistic and takes out half his school.

I don't think he lives in America. I think he lives in China. At least that's what I'm gathering.

I don't see how the sentiment of "if you don't like this country, leave" makes any more sense than "if you don't like this life, leave."

Either one works for me.

Let me ask you this, MJ, say you are hotdog's close acquaintance and you listen to his bashings of politics/America/society on a day-to-day basis. Aren't you going to get fed up one day and say something to the extent of, "If you don't like it, leave"?

His location says he's in USA. Or Dee Dee Dee land as he likes to call it.

I think he's of Chinese descent but lives in America? Hell, I don't know. Fuck off, hotdog.

Either one works for me. Let me ask you this, MJ, say you are hotdog's close acquaintance and you listen to his bashings of politics/America/society on a day-to-day basis. Aren't you going to get fed up one day and say something to the extent of, "If you don't like it, leave"?

No. If I'm the one fed up with what he's saying I would be the one to avoid him.

I thought we were fucking Kyeruu.