So tonight I read all over the internet news that Dumbledore is gay. My first reaction was to mutter, "great." My second reaction was to try to spin this: "So what? It doesn't matter what a fictional character does in his private life--what matters is whether it effects his job performance...and clearly..."
Then I realized how ridiculous this sounded. A fictional character in his--private life--outside--the book...
Then I started thinking how the first article I read spun Dumbledore and the gay issue: "How Christians will have a new reason to hate the Harry Potter books."
The fact is I want to love the Harry Potter books despite being Christian: the nobility of the characters, their failures, their courage, their virtues. But boy, if one of them is gay, forget it. Gross.
Actually I'm just kidding.
The reality is regardless of Dumbledore's personal predilection, he still redeems himself just as every fallen creature of God can.
While the media loves to remind Christians of some modernized sugar-crusted idea of forgiveness, the one thing they constantly forget is redemption. They will remind us of how we must forgive, but forget that we can also stand up confidently as Forgiven.
The people the media accuse of "hypocricry"--the long list of televangelists, or conservative Christians or politicians--might not be the best examples of redemption, but they are, at least, examples of the media's perspective.
Dumbledore will be their next victim. It doesn't matter what they think of homosexuality. They will not allow imperfection if someone is held up as a noble character by Christians. They will not allow a sin to be forgotten or forgiven. It doesn't really even matter that Rowling, his creator, is "outing him." He'll never be forgiven by the modern media, and we'll forever be reminded of his homosexuality, his noble deeds ever forgotten.
God help the non-fictional.
