Because, because, because, because, because.

Friday night. Carnegie Hall. Full house. J.K. Rowling on her "Open Book" Tour, the first of it's kind in many years, answers a simple question from a young fan. Her answer will leave the literary world, and the philistines, in turmoil for most of the week (my homework in Divinination says so) The fan queeries whether or not Dumbledore finds "true love". Rowling replies that "Dumbledore is gay". She elaborates that in his youth he was smitten with rival wizard Gellert Grindelwald and how the relationship was dashed in a battle of good and evil wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said, and commented that Dumbledore was left "horribly, terribly let down." In addition to the tremendous literary series she gave to modern culture, in addition to the jump start she gave to get children reading, in addition to this pop culture phenomena, she has given us a positive gay role model. I'm sure there's a phat marketing plan behind this woman but I'm glad the GLBT community is empowered in it. Ms. Rowling has described the Harry Potter series as a "prolonged argument for tolerance". I want to find out where to send a proper thank you note, as generostiy such as this can not be overlooked.

Illustration credit Gina Pitkanen (RavnHearts)