Dumbledore, gay?

Over the weekend it was revealed by JK Rowling that Professor Dumbledore is, in fact, gay. "Oh, well that makes sense," my friend replied after hearing the news. Does it? Were there stereotypical "gay" scenes that appeared in the series that I somehow missed? I suppose there was the casual mention of how a younger Dumbledore "loved to shop." And the character Dumbledore always reminded me of being molded after Tolkein's Gandalf, who in the LOTR movie series was played by Sir Ian McKellen, who also happens to be gay...

I am curious as to why JK Rowling has decided to have a main character "come out" now, when there wasn't mention of it in the series. I suppose the answer to this question shouldn’t matter. After all, there could be a lot of information about each character that never made it into the final books. We never found out Hermione's favorite color, for example, or if the house elves were avid tea drinkers considering they also lived in Great Britain...

However, I am left wondering if JK Rowling decided to have Dumbledore “come out” in order to spark additional controversy. Perhaps she decided, on a whim, let’s stir things up. The Religious Right hasn’t been as strongly anti-Potter lately and the “Dumbledore is gay” fan fiction is compelling… so why not give fans and foes something to talk about?

In equally compelling news, why not check out Giuliani in drag. I am not trying to make the suggestion that Giuliani might be gay, I just envy the fact he was able to sing alongside Julie Andrews. Who wouldn’t go in drag for the opportunity to sing alongside Maria? I know I would. (Maria from The Sound of Music is my favorite Julie Andrews character.)