Author Says 'Harry Potter Is Gay'

[Lee]

LONDON (Reuters) - A cleric turned top-selling author of supernatural children's novels was thrown out of a school where he was delivering a talk after he told pupils that Harry Potter was "gay".

Reverend Graham Taylor, who penned the novel "Shadowmancer" which, like the tales of the famous boy wizard created by J.K. Rowling, centres on witchcraft and battling evil, got his marching orders after teachers accused him of homophobia.

"As for Harry Potter, well, he's not the only gay in the village," the former Anglican priest told children at Penair School in Truro, southwest England, referring to a catchphrase from the popular comedy TV show "Little Britain".

He also described the villains in Rowling's blockbuster series as "wimps" and called TV "crap" compared to books.

Teachers brought Taylor's talk to the 12-year-olds on Tuesday to a premature end, saying the youngsters had become "excitable", and asked him to leave.

"We were very disappointed to have to curtail a visit from Mr Taylor," the school said in a statement on Thursday.

"The seven staff from the school who were present were very embarrassed and uncomfortable with what was being said.

"The remarks that were made were thought by the staff to be offensive and were well below the standards that we expect of responsible and thoughtful adults working in our school."

Taylor, whose book topped the book charts for 15 weeks with the film rights also sold for 2.25 million pounds, was unrepentant and accused staff of censorship.

"It was a joke; a joke from 'Little Britain' that the children would know," Taylor was quoted by newspapers as saying.

"I didn't set out to offend. I'm a priest and I'm very careful about not offending people."

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/news...-UK-POTTER.XML

Haha damn, whoever would have thought a priest would get in trouble for calling someone gay LOL

Regards,

Lee

[basschick]

has this guy read any of those books, or was he just making this up? harry's madly in love with one girl in one book - well, still attracted in another book. and now he has a new love interest ( i won't do a spoiler, but i was wondering about whether he'd hook up with her ). or perhaps gay means something else to him?

[Squirt]

Is this where the phrase "I'm not Gay I'm British" comes from?

[robin]

LOL! I luv Little Britain and the Only Gay In The Village Sketches are brilliant!

As for Harry being gay? I never had that impression...

[basschick]

Is this where the phrase "I'm not Gay I'm British" comes from?

[Jasun]

It's so stupid the way people rag on harry potter so much.

It's all just jealousy.. the ones who rag the most are the ones with the least imagination.

[XXXWriterDude]

How funny is this! I'm looking forward to the new Harry Potter movie (hated the first two, loved the third), and am anxious to see where they go with it next in terms of the style and tone.

For truly magical filmmaking, though, check out Mirrormask, one of the coolest movies I've seen in years! As one critic pointed out, it's like The Wizard of Oz as directed by David Lynch, though personally, I would have gone with an Alice in Wonderland comparison myself. I actually went and saw it again last night just so I could take a buddy to see it.

You can view the trailer here:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/m...ask/index.html

[Jasun]

I rather liked the first two, but yeah, the third one was by far the best.

anyway, trailer for the fourth Hrry Potter is just stunning, and I could only wish that there were gay characters in the book. Although Sirius and Snape have never had girlfriends...

[DonMike]

I can't wait for the next Potter movie. It was such a great book and I can totally see how visual the movie will be. They did a great job on the last movie. They finally got past the exposition and into the adventure of the story. The second book was good but it didn't really follow the story arc of the series, very much a stand alone story, I think.

[XXXWriterDude]

I rather liked the first two, but yeah, the third one was by far the best.

anyway, trailer for the fourth Hrry Potter is just stunning, and I could only wish that there were gay characters in the book. Although Sirius and Snape have never had girlfriends...

My problem with the first two was that they were too by-the-book. Anytime you adapt a novel to the screen, things have to change, rabid fans of the book be damned. There was no joy in the first two--I remember seeing the second one and just sitting there in the theater with my mind drifting off to ask, "Hmmm, what do I need to pick up from the grocery store on my way home?" I was bored to tears with the second one. Then again, I think Chris Columbus is one of THE worst directors to ever enter Hollywood, and I'm scared as hell to see what he does to Rent.

[DonMike]

I saw the first two before reading the books, so they seemed really good to me. The third was the first one I'd seen after having read the book so it was a totally different experience for me. Although having known the ending already did take out a lot of the suspense. Heh heh.