The Wizarding World and Homosexuality

[beakanoma]

In my wandering the Harry Potter Wiki for scraps of information, as I am wont to do, I came across
this for the first time. It's an article concerning the Wizarding world's views on homosexuality.

I'll copy the most important part here to read:

Melissa Anelli: "Yeah. Speaking of Dumbledore. We want to talk about Dumbledore so bad. We know you

Comments

[frankenshane]

Sounds about right to me, really. I always figured the WW would have similar issues to the Muggle world regarding sexuality. THOUGH I AM SURE LUCIUS WOULD HAVE LOTS OF THINGS TO SAY IF DRACO WAS GAY!

[pengolodh_sc]

Actually, it's not impossible he'd be willing to look the other way to Draco being gay, as long as Draco (a) kept up his obligations to the Malfoy name by dutifully begetting a legal heir, and (b) is the top.

[frankenshane]

True, but I still very much love my mental image of Lucius sputtering in incohernet rage after Draco tells him all sorts of things about his relationship with [insert male character here] by owl. XD

[beakanoma]

I tend to agree with pengolodh_sc - I think Lucius would care more about Draco bringing home a pureblooded mate than a female one. However, he certainly wouldn't be *happy* about it either. (I imagine Draco and his husband would be included in the family portrait, but made to stand in the back.)

I do wonder, though, about gay adoption and the like in the Wizarding world. Is there some way that 2 men can conceive a child? Because, if not, Lucius would be potentially angry about Draco not having any pureblood babies.

[vane_nt]

Thanks for sharing this excerpt! I'd never read this before. It's great food for thought--and inspiration for new fics. :-)

[rotaryphones]

Yes, thank you for the link. I think I've heard that this was her stance, but I hadn't seen the original source

[beakanoma]

I think saying that homosexuality not being discussed means it's taboo is a limited perspective to take. Watch any number of films or shows that don't have homosexual characters, and therefore have no cause to discuss homosexuality, you might get to thinking that they don't exist. Except that's not the case. The fact that homosexuality goes unmentioned says more about JKR's limitations as a writer than it does about the opinions in the universe she created

[beakanoma]

.......................... Sorry I wrote a book. :\

[rotaryphones]

No apology necessary! I think it's an interesting discussion.

And I think we're mostly in agreement here. I'm not saying that Harry Potter should have had more of a gay voice, because that's an unlikely request from a children's book. And you're right that JKR's limitations don't have to determine how one interprets her universe. JKRowling is not too good at shades of gray. So true!

I think you summarized my point really well with this sentence: It's mostly laziness on JKR's part, that she hadn't considered it before yet decided that one of the characters was secretly gay all along. That laziness reads as privilege to me, but...*shrug* Welcome to the world, right

[mark356]

I also think it sounds like a lazy way out. There is no monolithic view on homosexuality anywhere in the world now, and I don't know if there ever has been. Her saying that it's basically the same as it is here just tells me that she's not thinking seriously about it.

That said, I totally like the idea of Lucius not caring if Draco comes home with a boy, as long as he's a pure-blooded wizard.

[eosrose]

That said, I totally like the idea of Lucius not caring if Draco comes home with a boy, as long as he's a pure-blooded wizard. <-- I want to read that story RIGHT NOW. It has a lot of potential for some good humour, lol.

[awntheauthor]

Hmm … (I’m posting it in two parts, since my 830-word-ramblings obviously exceed the character limitation of comments …)

I’d like to begin with thanking you, beakanoma, for the link. Actually, I think I have read it somewhere-but I had forgotten most of it. It’s very thought-provocative, though. At first, I was quite surprised to read it, though now, a few days later when given some thought, it actually makes sense to me

Part 2

[awntheauthor]

I think that there are a lot of close-minded wizards that would treat gay people really horrible, while some more open-minded ones might be more tolerant. And as beakanoma and rotaryphones both pointed out, there are people that might accept homosexuality in itself-still, they might have problems with various aspects of it. (Unfortunately I still haven’t read A lack of color-although I’m really excited to finally do so shortly.)

So, to sum up: wizards and Muggles alike are not black-and-white souls. There are different shades of grey in everybody (or at least most). I think what J.K means is that there are people who are truly horrible to gay people but also more accepting people. And while the article in itself is very informative, it does not really change my opinion of homosexuality in the wizarding world since J.K confirmed what I’ve always imagined.