There has been much excitement about the announcement in New York this week from author JK Rowling that Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster in the Harry Potter series is gay and that he had fallen in love with Grindelwald.

I have never read a Harry Potter novel or seen any of the movies, but I guess it is good news that such a major character in the literary world has turned out to be gay. It is a shame that this news has only come out now as the final part of the series has been released and there was no reference to his sexuality in the novels. You could also take the view that JK Rowling was simply pointing out that one of the characters happened to be gay and this was no big deal. Either way I do not think this is something we should think too deeply about although I am sure there will be some who will use this as some kind of warped claim that the book as a “gay agenda” of some kind.

The fact is that Dumbledore’s sexuality is not explored or revealed in the movies. Since the worldwide blockbuster that was Brokeback Mountain there has been a notable absence of any mainstream gay-themed movies or perhaps more importantly movies with gay lead characters to appear from Hollywood despite the $178 million it raked in at the box office.

There is an interesting article in Entertainment Weekly this week  looking at the reasons for the failure of Hollywood to be inspired by the success of Brokeback to feature more gay roles in mainstream movies. It compares the situation with TV land where increasing numbers of openly gay/lesbian writers, gay/lesbian characters, and storylines have made Holloywood look out of touch and outdated.

Brokeback may have broken the mold and for many proved to be a cultural phenomenon that did much to change attitudes and destroy stereotypes of gay men, but we have not seen much of this genre or gay lead characters since. The article does a great job of assessing why this is the case and what hope there is for the future for Hollywood to follow television’s lead.

Yesterday Oprah devoted her show to the theme of "Gay Around the World".

It featured interviews with Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of Rajpipla, who came out in 2006 and was disowned by his family and much of his community, Staceyann Chin, a Jamaican lesbian forced to flee the homophobia in her own country, and John Amaechi, the first NBA player to be open about his sexuality.

The conversations with the guests were remarkably candid and personal. It was a powerful insight into the stories of these extremely articulate and very brave individuals.

It managed to deal openly with the issues of homosexuality in America while at the same time focusing the spotlight on the human rights abuses against gay and lesbian people in the rest of the world – including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uganda and Nigeria.

As we all know many of the barriers and misconceptions are broken down when people have of gays and lesbians in their families, workplaces and friendship groups. That is not always possible in every community but dealing with these issues, and most importantly featuring real people who are gay and lesbian on shows like this can be a powerful force for change via the media.

There is also an interview with Mazan, an Egyptian man who was among “The Cairo 52” who were arrested and imprisoned for being “suspected of being gay” that was not on the show but it is available on the website.

There has been much talk, some would say hype, about the power of Oprah but I have no doubt that the message of tolerance and acceptance she gave in her final remarks (available in the video section of the website) will prove more powerful and reach a larger, engaged mainstream audience than any speech from a politician or PSA from a gay celebrity.