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JK Rowling under fire from US Bible belt after outing Dumbledore as gay
Last updated at 23:07pm on 28.10.07
Harry Potter author JK Rowling
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."
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Outed: character Albus Dumbledore, played by Michael Gambon, is gay, Rowling admits
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."
Reader views (10)
I prefer to think of Dumbledore as an asexual sort of character. He's above human sexuality if you ask me. He's supposed to be this great and wise avuncular figure in a children's book series, why should sexuality be brought into it with a character like his?
I think JK Rowling wrote the book in this way. Regardless of what she has said after it has been written, she was clever and conscious enough not to let any details of Dumbledore's sexuality slip in the book as she knew that this would make him more jaded and less mystical.
It's ridiculous of the right wing bible belt in America to get all worked up by the idea of one of the characters being gay but its also ridiculous to put Dumbledore in this context of sexuality when it's completely irrelevant.
- Antz, Manchester
Big Deal! So Dumbledore is gay. So what?
It just makes him a flawed, imperfect human, like the rest of us.
Women don't have a monopoly on the right to love or be loved.
And after all, GOD created ALL of us. Are they saying God was wrong?
I'm not going to ban my sons (6 and 8) from reading the Potter books,
No matter what their sexuality turns out to be, I will always love them.
- Kevin, Southampton, England
I still expect it's a cunning ploy by Rowling. Give it 18 months and we'll see 'Dumbledore: The Early Years', a tale of a young wizard struggling to come to terms with his sexuality hitting the shelves.
- Paul, London
There is no reference to any homosexual activity in any of the books. Let children make up their own minds - they are not stupid. If they do or don't agree with homosexuality, that is their decision, not their parents'. As ever, religion has to impose a viewpoint and force it on others.
- Angela Walker, Barnet, England
Why is it wrong for a character to be gay? Does homosexuality not exist, is it just something we imagine?
Without introducing the concept to children we will never get rid of homophobia, the same is true for racism and other misguided beliefs.
- Stuart, UK
Clever JK Rowling, revealing her PC credentials after everyone would have bought the final book has done so.
I have no problem with a gay character but I think that she's been rather cunning in terms of timing.
- Rd, Glamorgan, UK
She said she'd always thought of him as gay, not that he was gay. He isn't real.
- Nu, London
I think J.K. Rowling was very misguided. This is supposed to be a series of children's stories, to play this PC game is idiotic.
Why I wonder does she make a male character gay? No lesbians in the world of magic then?
- Frank, Home Counties, England
Americans with their immoral homosexuality and moral war on Islam.
- Daveb, london
What is frightening the "fans" is the mental imagery.
- Trunk, US
