Yes, on both of these issues it's like...as somebody else said, her instinct just runs on ahead of her intellect. Because Dumbledore totally works as a character who's tempted by *power.* In fact, if I were just looking at canon and trying to work out what he said about love--since I can't really make head or tail of what love is really supposed to mean in this universe--I'd say this is a person who *always* chose power over love. Like, even with Grindelwald the great love that he felt was bound up with power. They were both seeking to take over the world together. And in the end, bizarrely, Grindelwald almost seems to be the one who learns his lesson more than Albus does!
But then she's just very clear in interviews that she doesn't really seem comfortable with that at all. It's just like with the authority stuff--there's a lot of stuff about mistrusting authority, but in the end the books are very pro-authority. They really kind of long for the same kind of philosopher king as Tolkien and others set up in their fantasies. Harry should listen to the right guide: Dumbledore. As Montavilla says, there's plenty of children's stuff that says that adults are stupid, but this series is even odder that way because first, the adults really are stupid. I mean, they are all stunted and never grow beyond their high school lives. We're pretty much told that Harry's generation--the members of it close to Harry--are far better and can fix the world, yet they never even have their moment where they surprise the adults by thinking for themselves. Hermione, for instance, seems to be the best model of what they're supposed to be. She thinks independently all the time, but only so far as she's following the person she knows is the right authority figure: Dumbledore.
Re: the homophobia...yeah, I think that she really doesn't think being gay should be a big deal. But she's not exactly analyzing what she's saying here. Since Dumbledore is the only gay person in the series it's very easy to make a homophobic interpretation no matter what she intended. First she herself decides to leave it out of the book, as if it's the one kind of love that can't speak its name. Then she actually binds it up with a temptation to evil. It's funny because one could say Bellatrix LeStrange is similar in that she's in love with Voldemort, only with Bellatrix clearly she has those beliefs outside of Voldemort and that's why she finds him attractive.
Re: (2/2)
But then she's just very clear in interviews that she doesn't really seem comfortable with that at all. It's just like with the authority stuff--there's a lot of stuff about mistrusting authority, but in the end the books are very pro-authority. They really kind of long for the same kind of philosopher king as Tolkien and others set up in their fantasies. Harry should listen to the right guide: Dumbledore. As Montavilla says, there's plenty of children's stuff that says that adults are stupid, but this series is even odder that way because first, the adults really are stupid. I mean, they are all stunted and never grow beyond their high school lives. We're pretty much told that Harry's generation--the members of it close to Harry--are far better and can fix the world, yet they never even have their moment where they surprise the adults by thinking for themselves. Hermione, for instance, seems to be the best model of what they're supposed to be. She thinks independently all the time, but only so far as she's following the person she knows is the right authority figure: Dumbledore.
Re: the homophobia...yeah, I think that she really doesn't think being gay should be a big deal. But she's not exactly analyzing what she's saying here. Since Dumbledore is the only gay person in the series it's very easy to make a homophobic interpretation no matter what she intended. First she herself decides to leave it out of the book, as if it's the one kind of love that can't speak its name. Then she actually binds it up with a temptation to evil. It's funny because one could say Bellatrix LeStrange is similar in that she's in love with Voldemort, only with Bellatrix clearly she has those beliefs outside of Voldemort and that's why she finds him attractive.