Albus Dumbledore is a homosexual. Guess that pretty much nails the coffin shut as far as fundamentalist Christians are concerned… Plus, all the many people who apparently can’t distinguish between homosexuality and pedophilia are going to raise all sorts of questions about what Dumbledore’s real interests in Harry Potter might have been.
Note that this information isn’t revealed in the Harry Potter books themselves, though it sheds a new light on some information in the final book. It’s simply one of those factoids that the author kept tucked away in her brain, and used to keep her world consistent. The article notes that when she found a reference in one of the movie scripts to a past, female love interest of Dumbledore’s, she sent a note to the director to set things straight.
Regardless of whether he is supposedly gay or not, it is interesting how Rowling waited until after her 7th book was released before disclosing that bit of “news”. Perhaps making that announcement before the release would have negatively impacted sales???
I wondered about that myself. It could have been much more obvious in the 7th book that Dumbledore’s infatuation with Grindelwald went beyond similar interests and aptitude, kindred-spirit sorts of things. As it was, there wasn’t much hint that there was more to it than that.
Since she never announced it previously, nor left much evidence (one way or the other) in the books, she must either have been worried about how it might hurt sales, or else only recently firmly decided his sexuality. The former seems more likely. Of course, it also might not have been she that was worried; her editor may have insisted she sit on that information for a bit.
BTW, for any Rowling fans looking for something to replace the Potter series, with perhaps a bit less of a Juvenile orientation to it, I highly recommend The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss.