Harry Potter fans angry at lack of gay romance in new play, accuse writers of ‘queerbaiting’
Writers of Harry Potter and The Curse Child have been accused of “reeling” LGBT fans in.
Harry Potter fans are up in arms over the relationship between Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy in hit new play The Cursed Child.
Following the recent release of the play’s manuscript – based on an original new story by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany – Potter lovers claim the writers have used queerbaiting to entice LGBT fans.
Queerbaiting is a term which refers author’s and writer’s attempts to attract an LGBT audience by hinting at same-sex relationships between characters, though they are never actually consummated.
And that’s exactly what fans claim the writers of Cursed Child have done with young Albus and Scorpius.
“The writers of the Cursed Child intentionally included this fan theory to draw us in, but decided to change it just enough so that they wouldn’t have to admit that they made two 11-year-olds gay,” LGBT campaigner Jameson Ortiz told The Guardian.
“It’s queerbaiting because they knew exactly who they were reeling in and why, but still decided to leave out the main attraction for all the fans they hooked.
“Instead [they], like so many others, set up the gay romance, hint at it constantly, make it believable and deep and perfect, and then force it out of the story.”
To show their frustration, some fans have even rewritten certain parts of the play, featuring Scorpius asking Albus out and even kissing him.
Although she is yet to comment on the backlash, Rowling has often spoken out against bigotry, saying that “homophobia is the fear of people loving”.
The writer revealed Dumbledore was gay in 2007 after the last book in the series was published.
A study also found that kids who read Harry Potter are more likely to be LGBT friendly.
