pauraque_bk | odds :: Gay characters in YA lit

eponis asked a good question the other day: Didn't Fred and George ever wonder why this bloke named Pettigrew was always shown on the map in Ron's dorm?

scarah2 has a post on the perennially popular topic of whether particular characters may be gay in JKR's mind, regardless of whether she'll ever tell us so.

This put me in mind of a discussion

keladryb and I recently had on the subject, more focused on whether JKR can/would explicitly state that a character is gay in the books. I'm not sure what purpose it would serve, beyond diversity for the sake of it. Remus is already figuratively queer, so it would seem a bit odd to make him literally queer as well, wouldn't it?

We agreed that JKR can write whatever she wants; no one could possibly stop her. We also discussed the precedent of gay characters in children's/young adult literature. Kel brought up Annie On My Mind, one of the very first YA novels about gay characters.

I've read Annie On My Mind, and it was pretty frank for the age-bracket it was aimed at. With that as a standard of what's acceptable, allowing Remus Lupin to be gay as a small part of an epic series seems like something that should be taken in stride.

Yet, it doesn't feel like it would be taken that way, at least not to me. We talked about the fact that Annie On My Mind is not just a novel with gay characters, it's a gay novel. You'd know that as soon as you read the back cover. It's in its right place on the Gay Interest shelf, where it's easy to avoid if you don't like it.

But mentioning at this point in the HP series that Remus is gay -- that's quite different. It tells us that he's a human being first, a teacher, a wizard, an expert on dark creatures, a person who makes mistakes -- all these things first, and then he also happens to be gay. It tells us that being gay isn't the end-all-be-all of someone's personality and life experience. It tells us that there isn't a great divide in the world with all the gay people conveniently Over There on their proper shelf where you don't have to see them (separate but equal).

And that's what I think would cause the controversy if JKR did decide to tell us Remus is queer. Even if it was only a passing, minor point -- perhaps especially if it was a minor point -- the message that being gay simply isn't anything to get worked up about is something I think a lot of people would have a huge problem with in a very mainstream YA series.

Any thoughts?

On a totally different note: If you, like so many of us, are possessed by an unexpected love for movie!Remus, go here to add 'lupin's cardigan' to your interest list.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes-- in fic, where many people are gay or generally queer, it's not so much of a problem... but to have him be THE ONE TRUE GAY in an epic series with bajillions of other implicitly straight (because that's the default, right?) characters just pushes it in the other direction entirely. Not that it would necessarily be intended as a comment on homosexuality, but it could concievably influence people or play off their homophobia, whether it was meant that way or not.

Yes, exactly. No matter how awful a fan writer makes him, and even when his horridness is directly connected to his sexuality (as in Cut With Diamonds), the portrayal still exists in a context that's queer-positive, or at least queer-who-cares? Even knowing that JKR is a liberal person and very likely not a homophobe, she's writing in the context of society at large.

Right. And slash writers *are* writing for a queer-friendly audience, which automatically gives you way more leeway than if you're writing for Average Person.

...my grammar in that comment was stupid. I dunno why I capitalized (the) average person, either. Oh well.

odds :: Gay characters in YA lit :: ends

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