The 'Wheee! Dumbly is Gay' Poll

[themostepotente]

He's here. He's queer. He's here to do a cheer. A lil' poll on the matter of Dumbly's preference for le beau sex.

Alas, I have no DD icons :P

[Poll #1076455]

Have fun all!

--P

Comments

[threnody.livejournal.com]

Hmm, you forgot 'don't give a shit and please for to be keeping the cheering to a dull roar, kthxbai'.

[dissociate.livejournal.com]

As well as the option for "Purely authorial intention? What's that?"

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

I would certainly have preferred Snape being gay to the whole Lily-fication of Snape's life that went down in canon. On the other hand, considering how it practically kills Jo to say a single uncritical thing about Snape, I doubt I would have wanted to read her version of gay!Severus. My blood suffered enough boiling during the post-mortem on DH. Poor handling of gay Snape might have given me a stroke.

(Btw, did you get my return email, lo these many days ago, in response to your beta request? Since I haven't heard back, I wasn't sure whether you'd slotted me into the beta roster or not.)

[berseker.livejournal.com]

Good point. We better stick to the fanfictions. ;)

Here via DS

[christycorr]

Awesome poll. Hee.

Re: Here via DS

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Hee! Glad you enjoyed the poll!

[berseker.livejournal.com]

Why, oh, why she didn´t pick Snape and Sirius? Or Snape and Lupin (OTP, YAY!) Or, you know, just Snape. He could´ve been ion love with James instead of Lily. Or something.

On the other hand, if Snape was gay and instead of writing it she revealed in an interview, I´d probably go craxy with rage.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Sirius is doing quite well in the poll I see. *G*

[plaid-slytherin.livejournal.com]

Here from daily_snitch

I have bunnies for Albus/Gellert, Albus/Elphias, and Albus/Alastor. Everyone says I should write Albus/Horace. I would like to read Albus/Tom. Of course, all this was true *before* he was outed. I'm just crazy like that. XD

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

So crack those knuckles and get typing!

[cnary-crem-dght.livejournal.com]

wait? She didn't out Snape? All this time I kept thinking 'Half-Blood Prince' was code words for gay. *crosses out notes in margins of half blood prince*

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

'Half-blood Prince' were code words for 'dead by the end of book seven.' :P

[tundraeternal.livejournal.com]

No, i was totally thinking it was gonna be Slughorn as soon i heard she'd outed someone. Come on, lilac silk pyjamas? And the man had a positive flair for decorating.

[matitablu.livejournal.com]

Lol, you have a point here!

[aragon-san.livejournal.com]

I didn't answer the first because my reaction was "Aha. Well, that's nice. Doesn't make me loath him less. At least it was unrequited because Dumbles deserves whatever pain comes his way." Your choices somehow didn't incorporate my reaction ^_^

I also thought it was a bit of a conciliatory gesture for the most painfully awkward "romance" ever written via which JKR pushed the most often pegged as gay characters Lupin and Tonks into hetero breeder-camp...
A kind of "Alright, I admit among the tons of people popping up in 7 books there should minimum be a non-straight one among the non-evils. Here, have Dumbledore who the average fan wouldn't want to envision sexually active anyway, who hasn't a shipping fan base of note (let's face it: all other main characters have one!) and who's dead now. See, my universe consists of more than people who marry their first requited crushes right out of school, have children very early and stay together forever!"...
And since she only informs us of it outside book!canon hopefully less protests from the ultra-conservatives and the wanky hategroups - also making calls for boycotts from said groups pretty pointless since the main sales in the English-speaking world already happened! YMMV of course.

For shipping it was "other" due to
- him being dead now
- him with Snape or Harry is just nasty imo: more than 110 years age-difference and the inherent abusive power-imbalance makes me shudder. And I've not once seen even a single fic addressing the limitations of severe old age on AD's sex-life even halfway realistically - instead it's magical geronto!stud!Albus all the way with the miraculously youthfully firm body. Eeeww.
And I really wouldn't want to inflict him on poor Snape regardless - the man has suffered enough from fictional colleagues and non-fictional hateful authoresses alike: he doesn't need a heartless, manipulative hypocrite with no regard for his well-being or soul in his sexual life whose only concern is for Gryffindors, tolerates murder-attempts as long as they come from the "right" people and who finds children who happen to become Slytherins scum from age 11 on >_< Snape deserves better.
- I don't ship him at all

If I did ship AD though:
- I could see creepy, power-abusing, somewhat coercive sex with younger Riddle which Albus excuses to himself with Riddle's irredeemable evilness from day 1 of their acquaintance. Or Riddle using his younger good looks, taking the initiative to get something and getting in way over his head...
- and of course AUrequited (or canon!unrequited or unrequited but still happening, lacking consent) Dumbledore/Grindelwald since it's JKR-sanctioned now

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Thank you for leaving a detailed view on the subject. I apologise if you felt my choices were limited. Honestly, that there were people that didn't care didn't even enter into my mind. But that was an oversight on my part.

[darkshimmer.livejournal.com]

The Dumblewald {Grindeldore?} pairing is the one that most intrigues me when it comes to Albus slash. Perhaps I'll dip my toes into Big Gay Albus waters with that particular pairing.

I would have preferred Snape as the gay one though. The sarcasm, the flair for drama, and the billowing . . . it would have worked so very well. ;)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

And it would have spared us from the Snape/Lily nonsense!

[aleoninc.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I was not surprised that she'd intended Dumbledore to be gay. I just honestly never thought she'd admit to it. So, she gets points for that, though it would have been nice to have had it revealed in the actual books. But hey, they are about Harry, who is now officially the least interesting character in the series . . . too bad it's all about him. :P

As for what other male character I would have wished it to be, I said Snape, of course! I mean, give some dimension to the poor man's love life other than "celibate longing". Sheesh.

I nearly clicked Remus as well, but I'll be damned if he isn't actually a closet case already, so there's really no need.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I nearly clicked Remus as well, but I'll be damned if he isn't actually a closet case already, so there's really no need.

WORD!

I really need to get a Snupin icon, dammit :P

[red-rahl.livejournal.com]

I was over the moon when I read the news! I even drew comic! It delights me and although I do see Grindeldore to be the most logical slash pairing, I doubt I'll play in it all that much because the angst! OH THE ANGST!!!! *is a wuss*

And I would have preferred if Lupin was gay because the Tonks/Lupin love kind of weirded me out in some ways. And JKR...really is in denial over the fact that her imaginary son is totally gay. It's alright. We can adjust. XD

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Dude, I totally saw! I recced it on my IJ! <3 <3 <3

[raggedass-road.livejournal.com]

I said "Dumbledore/Other" not because I can think of anything SPECIFICALLY, but... there's got to be others in his age group, right?

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm certain there are. But DD/OMC totally does not interest me.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I was pretty glad to see that DD was gay, if only because it was nice seeing that we've (society) finally progressed enough that a gay character can be in a book for younger readers. Plus, it was understandable. I don't get the drama surrounding the news, and I'm not sure what bothers me more, the "Jo sucks, it should've been (insert one half of slash pairing character here)" or the religious going nutty.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I don't understand why people wouldn't care. You give a slasher a bonified gay character, and they still aren't fucking happy. This just baffles me.

[norton-gale.livejournal.com]

For question three I picked both Harry and Draco, because how can one be gay without the other? Actually, I wanted to check almost all the boxes. :) But for the purpose of your poll, if I had to pick just one other gay character, it would be Draco.

I always thought Voldie and Lockhart were gay in canon anyway.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

For question three I picked both Harry and Draco, because how can one be gay without the other?

I like the way you think. *G*

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

I'd have preferred she outed almost anybody except Dumbles, since I despise the manipulative bastard, but then again . . . I shudder to think what the, for instance, gay!Remus revision might have been like. He acted bizarrely enough as a straight man.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

God, especially movie!Remus. But I'll behave and not discuss my hatred of Thewlis. *G*

[asphodel-ale.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm surprised that the only one JKR chose to out was Dumbledore. For my nomiation, we have Lockhart, Sirius, and Remus in the So-Obvious-It-Hurts category (Remus, well, half-and-half).

Hooch for the 'It's a stereotype and I'm going for stereotypes" category.

Trelawny for the "Too ditzy to notice there IS a difference" category.

Colin Creevy, for the "Paparazzi? Yeah, right! *sarcastic snort*" category

And last but not least, a nomination for Neville Longbottom for the "Wow, HE'S straight? I could have sworn...." category.

[judas-iscariot.livejournal.com]

Well, logically - Remus, if anyone, should have been out'd. I don't really ship much anything for Lupin, in spite of the fact that I do like him, faults and all. So it's not because I'm a die hard shipper insisting that he is gay. I honestly think everything related to his character gives a subtle but firm impression that he is gay. And that certainly isn't meant in a bad way (not like Lockhart, who is utterly and blatantly gay).

I really like Tonks as well, but pairing her with Remus just didn't seem to line up with the signals he gives, nor her own. I'd honestly say it smacks of JKR deliberately attempting to head off the assumptions held by a great deal of fandom. I know you've heard this all before, but it can be summarized by this - it all seems so pasted on (just like the epilogue). A nice little sweet way to tie things off.

Idealistically - zomg, Sirius. I think Sirius is an ass 99.3% of the time, but he strikes me as such a colorful character. Normally Sirius is the type of person I absolutely hate. But conversely I enjoy that I can see various dynamics with multiple characters. With the right incentive, these dynamics could head off in many directions. This includes family, friends, lovers, etc. Now I'm not claiming that the dynamics are always positive in the traditional sense - but then again, who wants that? I'll stick with my Black/Snape hate!sex, my Sirius/Harry fluff (only type of fluff I can stand), my Sirius/Regulus angst!fest, et cetera.

P.S. Note that I didn't cite Snape - that is because the whole Lily thing really tweaked me out. I'd rather hear he was in love with bloody Potter (James) over finding out that (I am really not fond of James at all, by the way). It was utterly cliche, and something widely speculated about in fandom long before book seven. The thought of Snape and a female of any sort makes something unknown shrivel up inside of me. At the very least I'd like to think he just made parallels with one of the few friends he felt he could connect with. Thus I am pretending (as I have with a lot of things concerning DH) that it never happened and Snape has always been inclined to bugger-a-boy.

[judas-iscariot.livejournal.com]

I didn't know we could pick more than one (hence why I split hairs with realism versus idealism), but looking at the comments it appears to be an option. Oh well. Let's just summarize it as I believe that there is more than one (or three) characters that are flamingly gay.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

methinks, it would probably be fun to write Dumbledore/Scrimgeour once... if they were both about 100 years younger!!!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

So write them in their youth!

[superdork37.livejournal.com]

This poll wins at life!

Also, Remus is totally gay.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Re poll: Thank you!

Re Lupin: Word!

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore/Grindelwald (or Grindelwald/Dumbledore) flips my skirt big time.

I'm even WEARING a skirt. (*flip!*)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

*peeks under skirt*

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

Wher'es the femslash?

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I was going to incorporate females and decided against it last minute.

Think it warrants another poll with just the lasses?

[arethinn]

I'm with those who were like "so what?" It means virtually nothing, except the huge explosion of related lulz that has occured on the intarwebs.

It's funny -- as much as I luurrrve me some Snack, I have a hard time conceptualizing either Snape or Sirius as actually being gay.

*puzzles over this* *hurts her puzzler a lil'*

Cognitive dissonance ftw!

("Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself.")

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE LARGE YOU CONTAIN MULTITUDES

(I keep hearing that bit of the poem and can never resist responding to it...)

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore/Voldemort, yes, but preferably Dumbledore/Tom! I liked the idea of that pairing since DH, though I've never read it. :D

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

So let's see some naughty Dumbly art from you!

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

I think if JKR were to say another character were gay, it would be Sirius, mostly because he is also already dead.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Do you think she picked DD because he's dead? If that's the case, why not Snape?

[saridout.livejournal.com]

What Dumbly pairings will you ship?

DD/OMC

If Rowling had chosen another male character in place of Dumbledore, who do you wish it would have been?

DD/Elphias Doge

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

You dun like Albus/Gellert?