At the Leaky Cauldron, they're reporting JK Rowling's response to the Dumbledore news:

"If I had know this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago."

She continued, explaining having to slip a note to the director, David Yates, during a script reading of the sixth film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," when a small reference was made to 'a girl Dumbledore was once attracted to' was in the script. In tune with the activities of many in her fandom, Jo also said after revelation: "Just imagine the fan fiction now."

She also revealed that Neville married Hannah Abbott, who was the new proprietress of the Leaky Cauldron, and that Lupin couldn't find work after Hogwarts, and was supported financially by James and Lily.

This is kind of weird. Because when I was reading the book, of course, I thought, "Man, I'll bet everyone is seeing this Dumbledore/Grindelwald thing as totally slashy, but whatever, they see everything as slashy." Except this time, it actually was supposed to be.

Then there's the thing with Dumbledore's brother and the goat. A respecably gay son would have been a great comfort to the folks.

Because I had to. He's Batman.

Phew, I'm still in the top fifteen.

Okay, everyone in the internet cafe is looking at me weird after I just did Victory Arms over the Dumbledore revelation.

....did anyone ask her about Remus/Sirius? 'Cause in light of the Dumbledore thing, I'm thinking Jo may just make that canon.

....did anyone ask her about Remus/Sirius? 'Cause in light of the Dumbledore thing, I'm thinking Jo may just make that canon.

Would. Throw. A. Party.

There is a good summary of the Q&A in NY here:

[link]

When eight-year-old Mia asked an Aberforth question, Jo asked her age and said that just for her the answer would be "that the goats were easy to keep clean and that they had curly horns," as the audience roared with laughter.

Har!

Man, I'm actually pissed at JKR over the Dumbledore reveal. How hard would it have been to put that in the freaking books?? This is the line that makes me maddest:

"If I had known this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago."

Way to have the strength of your convictions, lady. I'm so glad that you feel comfortable revealing this now that you've already sold billions of copies of your books. I mean, not that it wouldn't have been problematic in a different way, making the only gay character one who was basically asexual, but still -- think of the platform she had! Think of how many people read those books for whom this might have been the first positive portrayal of a gay character they'd ever seen. She's also quoted as saying that she views the books as "a prolonged argument for tolerance," but as written, they're very (if unintentionally) heteronormative. I can't believe that she knew all along that Dumbledore was gay, but never made a single reference to that fact in all seven books. Yeah, that's real useful, JKR. Way to fight the good fight.

See, and I totally thought that it was in Book 7. I mean, Dumbledore wasn't wearing Gay Pride robes, but I was like, "Huh, so he's gay. That totally fits."

Of course, now everyone's going to be saying he's the British public school headmaster pedophile archetype (if that's an architype...caricature?)

I think someone started a Werner Hezog one as well.

Oh BWAH!

Way to fight the good fight.

If she'd signed up to fight the fight (or any fight, really) I could see the harsh judgment. But she's a YA author. That's the extent of her responsibility. There are a million things she knew that didn't make it down on the pages, and I think basic "being decent" is well covered by her not slagging any groups unduly, etc.

We're not all fighters, even those who have the lofty platforms. It would have been great if she did, but I can't be mad that she didn't.