We are family

By now, you’ve probably already heard the big news around Hogwarts the world that Dumbledore is gay. Harry Potter headmistress J.K. Rowling flung open the closet door Friday during a reading at Carnegie Hall when a fan asked her if Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore had ever fallen in love:

“My truthful answer to you... I always thought of Dumbledore as gay… [ovation] Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent? But, he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix, he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him.

Yeah, that’s how I always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair... [laughter]. I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, ‘Dumbledore’s gay!’ [laughter and ovation] If I’d known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!”

Later, after another fan thanked her for the revelation [read the full transcript over at The Leaky Cauldron], she added:

“You needed something to keep you going for the next 10 years! Oh, my god, the fan fiction now, eh?”

OK. First of all, Yay, Dumbledore! Welcome to the family. Dude, the bears are going to love you. Second of all, Yay, J.K. Rowling! Just when I thought she couldn’t get any cooler for making millions upon millions of children (and more than a few discerning adults) excited about reading, she goes and does this. I always thought some dark magic had to be at work for there not to be a single gay character in the Potterverse.

But what I really want to do is take a moment to put this historic outing in perspective. The Harry Potter series is the best-selling children’s series of all time. To date it has sold more than 350 million copies and been translated into 64 languages. The five film adaptations so-far rank among the top 20 highest-grossing films of all-time worldwide. And now, the whole world knows that one of the most important and beloved characters in the series is gay. Wow. I think that makes it a pretty good day to be gay, don’t you?[Hat tip, suenami; Dumbledore Pride photo via mrslaurenm]

My Weekend Crush

Today, all across the globe, children (and more than a few unashamed adults) are nestled comfortably in chairs, lying outstretched on couches and sitting slumped over kitchen tables racing through 784 pages as if their very lives depended on it. They are reading, they are excited about reading, they are no doubt going to beg their parents (well, not the adults -- I hope) to let them stay up to keep reading because of one woman: J. K. Rowling. The author of the Harry Potter series had done something that in this age of electrified entertainment I thought was damn near impossible, gotten kids to put down their Playstations and pick up a book. And to pick up said book, they’ll happily line up and wait for hours and hours. Wow, she really is magic. The story of how she dreamed up Harry is fable by now -- the dole, a train trip, a four hour delay -- and the legacy of what she created will live on in the imaginations of generations to come.

I’ll admit, I haven’t read the entire series. Still I think I’ll pick up “Deathly Hallows” so I can find out how it all ends for myself (if I can stay strong and stay away from all those damn spoilers). Because I too know the thrill of falling in love with literary characters and reading along as they grow up page by page, book by book. I had my own J.K. Rowling, but her name was L.M. Montgomery. Instead of Harry it was Anne. Instead of black magic it was red hair. And instead of Hogwarts it was Green Gables. But I felt the same delight that today’s crop of bibliophiles no doubt feel while cracking open the final book. Their joy of finding out “What happens?” will too soon become a bittersweet “Is it really over?” It will be with sadness that boys and girls (and discerning grownups) will let Harry, Hermione, Ron and the rest go at the end of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” But the love they feel for those characters, those books and (with any luck) reading will never end. And that’s all thanks to the talented Ms. Rowling. Like I said, magic. Happy weekend, all.