2008 Woodie Awards
Dumbledore sexually repressed
Adrian Shanker
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Op/Ed
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Dumbledore may be gay, but the queer community has more to worry about at the present than fan fiction. It is certainly worthy of note that Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, has out-ed Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. While Dumbledore's story, told vicariously through Rowling, is a metaphor to the suppressed love faced by many (particularly older) queer people, it is just that - a metaphor.
The queer community has enough stories of hatred, discrimination, sexual repression and self-denial to go around without adding a fictional character into the mix. That said, it is extremely important to have fictional characters that represent queer images - but the fact that Dumbledore was out-ed post-publication of the last book and that he did not himself come out proves that he should not be a role model for the LGBT community.
While Rowling is busy out-ing her fictional characters, queer people everywhere still face significant amounts of sexual repression. As Rowling notes, Dumbledore's love was his "great tragedy." In a post-Brokeback Mountain culture, Americans' eyes have opened to issues of gay love, but stereotypes still persist. Images of promiscuity among gay men, false beliefs that bisexuals are just "confused" and ideas of lesbians as having no sex drive persist through our heteronormative society.
Legally, sexual repression is just where the American government wants it to be. Bush's abstinence programs are leaving children behind on a daily basis. The global gag rule is oppressing abortion-needing women internationally. And queer kids in K-12 schools are continuously denied accurate information about same sex health issues. This is called sexual repression - the same sort of repression that forced Dumbledore to stay in the closet is going to keep many other queer people there as well.
The fact that we actually have laws in place encouraging sexual repression is sickening and immoral. I am tired of hearing that religion or morality is telling people to stay abstinent, or to oppose gay sex etc… My spirituality, and that of many other people's and traditions, is one that encourages positive sex and treats sexual information as something that should be freely distributed. That is the work of many pro-sex ed clergy, among them Rev. Deb Haffner of the Religious Institute and Rev. Carleton Veazy of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Dumbledore is in many ways a metaphor for real life sexual repression. Just as Rowling let him out of the closet, we too must fight for sex positivism that lets us all out of our repressed closeted selves. We can start by challenging archaic laws like the "21+ Pornography Law" in Allentown or the federal "Global Gag Rule." We can also push for sex-positive laws, such as the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (to end the ban on gays in the military.) On campus, we can continue pushing for Gender Neutral Housing and safe bathroom options for gender non-conforming students, thus challenging heterosexist historical norms. It is a moral imperative that we do all in our power to create a sex-positive environment, here at Muhlenberg, in Allentown and everywhere.
The queer community has enough stories of hatred, discrimination, sexual repression and self-denial to go around without adding a fictional character into the mix. That said, it is extremely important to have fictional characters that represent queer images - but the fact that Dumbledore was out-ed post-publication of the last book and that he did not himself come out proves that he should not be a role model for the LGBT community.
While Rowling is busy out-ing her fictional characters, queer people everywhere still face significant amounts of sexual repression. As Rowling notes, Dumbledore's love was his "great tragedy." In a post-Brokeback Mountain culture, Americans' eyes have opened to issues of gay love, but stereotypes still persist. Images of promiscuity among gay men, false beliefs that bisexuals are just "confused" and ideas of lesbians as having no sex drive persist through our heteronormative society.
Legally, sexual repression is just where the American government wants it to be. Bush's abstinence programs are leaving children behind on a daily basis. The global gag rule is oppressing abortion-needing women internationally. And queer kids in K-12 schools are continuously denied accurate information about same sex health issues. This is called sexual repression - the same sort of repression that forced Dumbledore to stay in the closet is going to keep many other queer people there as well.
The fact that we actually have laws in place encouraging sexual repression is sickening and immoral. I am tired of hearing that religion or morality is telling people to stay abstinent, or to oppose gay sex etc… My spirituality, and that of many other people's and traditions, is one that encourages positive sex and treats sexual information as something that should be freely distributed. That is the work of many pro-sex ed clergy, among them Rev. Deb Haffner of the Religious Institute and Rev. Carleton Veazy of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Dumbledore is in many ways a metaphor for real life sexual repression. Just as Rowling let him out of the closet, we too must fight for sex positivism that lets us all out of our repressed closeted selves. We can start by challenging archaic laws like the "21+ Pornography Law" in Allentown or the federal "Global Gag Rule." We can also push for sex-positive laws, such as the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (to end the ban on gays in the military.) On campus, we can continue pushing for Gender Neutral Housing and safe bathroom options for gender non-conforming students, thus challenging heterosexist historical norms. It is a moral imperative that we do all in our power to create a sex-positive environment, here at Muhlenberg, in Allentown and everywhere.