He may have missed Coming Out Day by a few weeks, but when master wizard Albus Dumbledore from the popular Harry Potter series left the closet last week, it was a bombshell to millions of fans who had been reading the books for years.
During a book reading at Carnegie Hall in New York City last Friday, a fan asked author J. K. Rowling whether Dumbledore, one of the series' main characters, had ever experienced love. According to transcripts of the event, she replied, "I always thought of Dumbledore as gay."
Though it is certainly not the first time an author has written about a gay protagonist, the announcement has drawn attention due to the intense popularity of the seven-book series and its obsessive, active fan base. The books have become the most popular literature series in years, consistently breaking sales records as they were released; according to MSNBC, the last book sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours after its release - more than 250,000 copies per hour.
In the days since Rowling's announcement, the story has dominated entertainment news headlines. Some fans saw the statement as an interesting development and a positive step for the gay community, while others saw it as an attempt to rewrite her book post-publication or as a cheap publicity stunt.
At Tufts, students were split on whether the announcement was exciting or revisionist. But they agreed that Rowling had not, with a wave of her wand, diminished the books' original magic.
"It's not really surprising," sophomore and longtime Harry Potter fan Allie Mahon said. "I didn't really think of [Dumbledore] either way; I kind of thought of him as an asexual character."
But even if the announcement had been surprising, Mahon said that wouldn't matter to her and her peers.
"We go to Tufts; we're in Boston in Massachusetts," she said. "No one here is going to care either way."
Mahon reflected the general view of students interviewed: that the character's sexual preference was, at the very least, not problematic for fans.
"I think it's kind of a fun thing," junior Casey Johnson said. "I don't think it affects the books at all."
Sophomore Colin Harari agreed.
"I don't think it would have played a role in my reading," Harari said. "I don't think it really matters, because his sexuality doesn't really affect the book at all."
But for junior Denise Ozpinar, the announcement will ultimately affect how the books are read, even if sexuality is not an important factor in the stories.
"Things like [sexual preference] shouldn't matter," Ozpinar said. "But it certainly brings new levels to [Dumbledore's] relationship with Harry Potter."
Students were also split on how the presence of a prominent gay character in such a popular series will affect general perceptions about gays. Freshman Jessica Madding said she thinks the announcement had a clear message of tolerance.
"She's obviously doing it to make a statement against homophobia," Madding said.
But Mahon said that, because the series is targeted to children and includes few references to sexuality at all, Dumbledore's sexual orientation won't have much of an impact.
"I don't really know that I'd say it was a step forward, just because the books are generally geared toward little kids who don't deal with those issues yet," she said.
Some students' opinions focused not on the fact that Rowling chose to make the character gay, but on her decision to reveal his sexual preference months after the last book hit the shelves.
"It was just sort of random for her to say that now," Madding said. "
Freshman Kyle Nichols-Schmolze agreed, saying that ultimately the text - and not Rowling's announcement - will determine how he views the book.
"I just read an article in which J.K. Rowling told readers about the later lives of Harry and Hermoine and the other characters. For me, the characters only exist within the books," he said. "It strikes me as weird that she can stand there and make up things, and say them, and that becomes Harry Potter fact."
