Alexis’s answer to “One of my major characters is gay, but it has never been brought up on account of me (mostly) writi…” > Likes and Comments

Sometimes it feels as if deviating from the "default state" of heterosexuality in a story would be a folly unless it's truly important and relevant for in-story purposes. "Oh, so he's talking about his ex now? Does said ex have to be another guy? Couldn't you change it to a girl? It wouldn't hurt the story any!". Which in turn could carry a number of troublesome implications. Although then again, I'd also imagine that given the genre you're writing in, for you it might be an opposite sentiment.

It was a surprisingly long and thorough response and gave me a lot to think about. Thanks.

Oh, and I do think I might have appreciated it if Rowling had made Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald a little less, shall we say, ambiguous in the text itself. It was an important driving point in the backstory, after all. It might have spared her a bit of the (still largely undeserved) hatred thrown her way.