Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s ‘Intense’ Sexual Relationship and Why There’s a Lack of LGBTQ+ Fiction
Ah yes, a day that will go down in Twitter history: the day JK Rowling declared that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had an ‘intense’ sexual relationship[1]. This is a day amongst many where Rowling tried to transform her already-published children classics into progressive, LGBTQ+ friendly works of fiction. Oh, how wrong and disappointing she was. This is just one example of why and how non-LGBTQ+ writers are inhibiting the progression of this genre into mainstream fiction. Despite recent growth in publication, LGBTQ+ fiction is still severely lacking in adequate representation. It has resorted to the likes of JK Rowling to produce the LGBTQ+ fiction that society apparently needs. Didn’t you hear? Dumbledore is intensely gay. There will now be no need for any other LGBTQ+ novels ever again.
Now don’t get me wrong, the amount of published LGBTQ+ fiction is on the rise. In 2018, the amount of YA LGBTQ+ fiction published by American mainstream publishers rose to 108 from 84 published the previous year.[2] However, this isn’t enough. You would think that in 2020, we would be at a point where LGBTQ+ fiction would have reached a significant position in mainstream publishing, but no. The LGBTQ+ community, a still hugely marginalised group in society, is being ignored. The publishing industry’s priorities lie with granting Margaret Atwood a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale and instead of receiving representation in literature, the LGBTQ+ community is attacked by Twitter over pride-flag coloured remembrance poppies.
So who can I start blaming?
For starters, we need more authors writing LGBTQ+ fiction that includes actual LGBTQ+ characters and less queer-baiting. We definitely don’t need *deep breath here goes* any more authors such as JK Rowling who decide to announce their characters as gay long after its publication, thus undermining the complete intention of fair LGBTQ+ representation. Rowling first mentioned that Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald in 2007 at a Fan Q+A and then never mentioned it again until a promotion interview for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Don’t get excited though, JK Rowling’s favourite queer relationship wasn’t mentioned throughout the whole book series and *surprisingly* won’t be mentioned in the upcoming films. It would be nice to think that Rowling was writing ahead of her time when Dumbledore was first created and decided that her character’s sexuality didn’t need to be announced - but sadly that’s not the case. Rowling’s constant stream of political declarations since her original interview in 2007 (such as sharing Harry’s views on Israel[3] and further reiteration that Dumbledore and Grindelwald WERE intensely gay) suggests that she is merely attempting to appear more progressive. Not only is Rowling trying to fake her way into LGBTQ+ fiction, but also implying that fake fiction is all that the LGBTQ+ community deserves. It is difficult to find actual LGBTQ+ fiction written by heterosexual writers as there is also the assumption that LGBTQ+ literature shouldn’t be written as it’s only for gay pens[4]. This assumption is highly problematic. We need LGBTQ+ fiction to be taken seriously by writers who strive for fair representation of the LGBTQ+ community in literature. Otherwise all we had left is Rowling.
Despite this lack of commitment to LGBTQ+ fiction, the responsibility for fair representation also falls to the publishing houses and editorial teams. It is up to the publisher’s to take significant steps as they control what is published and how much LGBTQ+ fiction passes into mainstream circulation. There are a limited amount of mainstream publishers that are actively promoting LGBTQ+ fiction. In fact, if you’re looking for LGBTQ+ publishers, one of the first prompts that comes up on Google is ‘LGBT friendly publishers’. As if the highest level of inclusivity publishing houses can reach is sticking a sign up saying ‘Dog friendly’, but for the queers. Only 8% of the population[5] are out loud and proud and that is a small enough percentage that any publishers that aren’t exclusively LGBTQ+ will leave the publication of the genre to LGBTQ+ publishers. This means that LGBTQ+ fiction has a very small chance of getting into the mainstream publishing scene.
Last November, during NaNoWriMo, we saw a plethora of LGBTQ novels being written by those who want to promote the genre and see it well represented. Instead of encouraging writers who ignore it or give it a bad name, publishers, take a look at these!
Jacob Stalworthy, “Fantastic Beasts 2: JK Rowling Responds to Fan Outrage that Dumbledore’s Sexuality will be avoided in sequel”. The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/fantastic-beasts-2-jk-rowling-dumbledore-gay-david-yates-not-explicitly-sequel-jude-law-a8188711.html 13/11/19
Malinda Lo, “A Decade of YA LGBTQ since Ash”, Malinda Lo, https://www.malindalo.com/blog/2019/3/18/a-decade-of-lgbtq-ya-since-ash 9/11/19
Chris Mandle, “JK Rowling says Harry Potter ‘would be disappointed’ with her stance on Israel Boycott”, The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/harry-potter-would-bedisappointed-with-my-stance-on-israel-boycott-jk-rowling-says-a6710916.html, 14/11/19
Nick Alexander, “Why don’t straight people read gay books?”, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2007/may/21/whydontstraightpeopleread 9/11/19
Governemt Equalities Office, “National LGBT Survey: Research report”, Gov.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-lgbt-survey-summary-report, 9/11/19