In an interview yesterday at a New York book signing, J.K. Rowling, creator of the world of Harry Potter, shocked a packed audience of fans with the knowledge that she wrote the character of Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to be a homosexual.

In her mind, Albus’s one true love had been his young friend Grinwald. Albus eventually had to duel his lover in the infamous battle in which he won the Elder wand. Rowling was careful not to exploit or unnecessarily explore Dumbledore’s sexual orientation in the novels, any more than she addressed or explored the orientation of the heterosexual professors and authority figures. In leaving out the details of his homosexuality, Rowling makes another of her statements for tolerance- People aren’t defined by their sexuality or sexual orientation unless they themselves choose to be. Dumbledore was a great many things, and he could be a homosexual without a Brokeback love scene. Apparently she asked directors to leave Dumbledore’s sexuality out of the film versions which initially portrayed him having had a previous heterosexual relationship.

I think she handled Dumbledore’s sexuality quite tactfully and subtly, just as she has the weighty issues of war, death, duty, fear, and adolescent autonomy. I can only hope that parents and fan are as respectful of this subtlety as she was in the novels. Unfortunately, I fear his sexuality will be blown out of proportion. Fan fiction stories portraying Dumbledore's sexuality have already begun to emerge.