harukami.tumblr.com/post/95609393103/unlockaflockofwords-felixlovesyou

Mmmmm... You know, I'm gonna have to side with the person defending Rowling on this one. Although I agree that minorities, gays, and women have under representation in media, I don't think Rowling is obliged to fulfill any sort of agenda. It's a fucking coming-of-age kids book about a boy attending wizarding school and fighting a hyperbolically evil man. Takealookatyourlife is right: "We are not told about any of the Hogwarts professors love lives, other than Snape," frankly because Harry isn't interested. I never would've known McGonagall was a widow and also briefly engaged to a Muggle in her youth if I hadn't read it on Pottermore. It's just not appropriate for professors to be discussing their personal lives like that with students, and none of them really did.

You could argue that it'd be out there, like knowledge that Barney Frank is gay. I'm not certain if people knew; given there's never any mention of Dumbledore in a relationship, even with information Rowling's provided outside of the books, it's possible he kept his sexuality a secret. He grew up in the 1880s for fuck's sake and was attracted to Grindelwald in the 1890s. That's not exactly a gay-friendly time. Only toward the end of his life was society becoming accepting.

The only time in the books I think would've been the opportune moment for Dumbledore to tell Harry would be the chapter King's Cross from the seventh book, after Voldemort "kills" Harry in the forest. It's when Dumbledore explains everything about his past to him. Except revealing his sexuality would've totally fucked up the flow of that chapter. I know as a reader, we would be too focused on the shock of learning Dumbledore's gay to really pay attention to the important issues: Dumbledore's guilt over his sister's death and how Harry can move forward after this.

Although I understand the frustration of felixlovesyou, the person who's so upset at Rowling, at lack of prominent homosexual characters, Rowling not overtly disclosing Dumbledore's homosexuality keeps in tune with the book. Only relationships relevant to Harry — Bill and Fleur, Lupin and Tonks, Snape and Lily, etc. — are the ones explored. It may provide an interesting insight into Dumbledore's psst and ambitions, but it doesn't expand the story in a meaningful way. Considering how many scenes she cut out of each book because they were already so goddamned long, this is just a minor issue.

Honestly my favorite line from felixlovesyou is this: "Including canonically queer characters in this most beloved and formative series of books would have LITERALLY changed - and quite probably saved - some queer kids’ lives." If your life hinges on whether or not it's mentioned in the Harry Potter books that Dumbledore is gay, you must not value it so much.