Not Yet In Utopia

Last Friday J.K. Rowling announced that Professor Dumbledore was gay. The media pounced on the news in delight. You could almost hear the breathy whispers of excitement at the offices of the Associated Press as they released the news to the world. In quivering voices they told us that the announcement in Carnegie Hall was greeted first with gasps and then with applause. The message was clear - a major fictional character is now gay, and this proves that that homosexuals are now fully integrated into society's mainstream.

Yeah, right.

Let's start with Ms. Rowling's outing of old Dumbledore. Isn't it worth remarking that she waited for him to be safely dead before leading him out of the closet? Dead men tell no tales and sell no books. So whether Dumbledore is straight, gay, or a tree-worshipping bisexual druid makes no difference to Ms. Rowling's royalty stream. Certainly not enough of a difference to be noticed by a woman who is already the wealthiest in Britain. So she need not hesitate to make a whimsical announcement that will amuse a bunch of adolescents and steal headlines in the entertainment section of the weekend newspapers. Yes, I am being cynical about the whole thing. That does not mean I am wrong.

But frankly, it does not matter. In fact, J.K. Rowling deserves credit for keeping Dumbledore interesting even as a corpse, and for doing that without taking any financial risks.

What I find rather daft is the reportage in the media. Do they really belileve that an open declaration of the sexual preferences of a dead supporting character in a fairy tale has anything to do with discrimination in real life? I bet there aren't too many gay men or women who see it that way.

Where is the openly gay head of state, or even the openly gay cabinet member in any country in the world? Where is the openly gay captain of industry? Heck, other than Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova there has not even been an openly gay sporting icon. As far as I can tell it is only in the advertising, fashion and entertainment industries that gays don't have to fear discrimination. Fully integrated into society's mainstream? Don't make me laugh!

Larry Craig is an American senator. He was recently arrested for "disorderly conduct" while allegedly making a pass at an undercover police officer in a toilet. Mr. Craig has been "accused" of being gay since the 1960s, and still feels compelled to declare emphatically "I am not gay". The question is: why should it matter? Why should "I think Larry is gay" be an accusation that, if true, would render him unfit for public office? We still live in a world where the suspicion of being homosexual can destroy a man's career. So if the dead Dumbledore's open homosexuality is sufficient sign of the new revolution then I am a jewel-encrusted parakeet.

One day the media will talk about individuals as individuals, not as type-cast members of a constituency. One day they will be able to report on a U.S. presidential election without ever feeling the need to mention that Senator Obama is bla- (I beg your pardon) African American, or that Senator Clinton is female. One day they will tell us about the ways in which French President Sarkozy's principles were moulded by his mother, instead of telling us that his mother came from a Jewish background.

in the meantime I'll keep reading Harry Potter as a work of fiction rather than as wishful social allegory.