After the release of the final Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, J.K. Rowling stated in an interview that the Hogwarts Headmaster, Dumbledore, was in fact gay. This certainly shocked fans as throughout the book series Dumbledore never proclaimed or even hinted at his sexuality. Nonetheless, Rowling defended her statement and even said that Dumbledore fell in love with Gilbert Grindelwad as a teenager. Many fans deemed Dumbledore as a victory in gay representation, while others criticized Rowling’s decision to reveal this after the series ended. 

Rowling has a history of last minute character revisionism long after the series ended. One of her most controversial proclamations was stating that Hermoine was black and that her skin tone was never mentioned in the book. 

Rowling has a problem of announcing and never showing, specifically to show that her series has diversity and back up her image as a “progressive writer”. Dumbledore was never written from the beginning to be a queer character that readers can relate to. Furthermore, even if Rowling did intend Dumbledore to be queer from the beginning, she did not execute successful writing of a gay character. 

Though this opinion may be controversial, Dumbledore probably shouldn’t have ever had his character announced as any sexuality. The only evidence of the text that could be interpreted as him being queer is simply him stating that Grindelwad’s ideas “caught and inflamed me”. Though this line is intense, it does not inherently hint romantic feelings. Moreover, Dumbledore as a gay character enforces the harmful trope of queer characters dying loveless and alone. Rowling herself stated that him never finding true love was the “great tragedy” of his life. Most queer films and books, especially not created within the last five years, contain more sadness and devastation than happiness and love. 

Not only was Dumbledore never written to be relatable to queer readers, but his queerness leaves many LGBTQ readers with sadness. The fact that he died at 115 years old without a soulmate, certainly doesn’t give queer readers hope that they will have a happy ending to their own story. Meanwhile all the straight couples such as Ron and Hermione, and Ginny and Harry, have the picture-perfect happy ending with families and marriage. As a young reader, I never interpreted Dumbledore as gay while reading the series. As a representation starved queer person, the fact I never once thought of Dumbledore as gay certainly says a lot about Rowling’s writing.