- Location
- To the left. No, not there, the other left.
Or he somehow managed to (very accurately) peg Holly's type (literally all 3 people she asked/though of asking out to the ball were seekers).
A Skirt's Not So Bad [Harry Potter]
- Thread starter Tekomandor
- Start date
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Girls who play sports are stereotyped gay, its a whole thing
- Location
- Painting, Peach's Castle
I keep imagining an entire band of Cousin It clones.
No. No. Clearly they looked like these guys:
Just very, very, 80s.
Guys, you're all right. Cousin Itt's on the keyboard, Chewbacca's on the drums, Dee Snider's on vocals, and we're pretty sure Rapunzel's on guitar.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
I, uh... What? Why? That makes absolutely no sense - sexual orientation isn't defined by your hobbies, lol.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Welcome to stereotyping, the art of taking a singular example and making rediculous and nonsensical generalizations.
- Location
- Earth, probably.
- Pronouns
- None/Any
This is the much more enjoyable interpretation, I think. But, it also opens the incredibly creepy interpretation that Bagman's
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, 4.24 has Hermione in pink dress robes, and 4.25 has the canon periwinkle blue. I think it says something about the quests I've been a part of (and the fics I've read) that my instinct is to be like "wHaT dOeS iT mEaN?!?!" and go all 'Pepe Silvia' about it, instead of assuming it's a harmless goof.
that said, I also want to know what it means.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There's also a history of that sort of prejudice. Like, the American women's baseball league had a whole lavender scare of its own leading to many nonsensical thing like banning inter-team fraternization.
As I said earlier, it all comes down to gender essentialism. Sports are (intrinsically!) a "guy thing", therefore if a woman likes sports she must be like a guy in some fashion, and therefore lesbian and/or transgender (look how controlling the Olympics are about policing who "counts" as a woman).
Endorfinator
Awkwardly Social
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Obviously Hermione has a trio of highly opinionated fairies looking out for her.
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- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It means I forgot that they were only pink in the movie when I wrote 4.24
So, 4.24 has Hermione in pink dress robes, and 4.25 has the canon periwinkle blue. I think it says something about the quests I've been a part of (and the fics I've read) that my instinct is to be like "wHaT dOeS iT mEaN?!?!" and go all 'Pepe Silvia' about it, instead of assuming it's a harmless goof.
that said, I also want to know what it means.
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
Outside of a few exceptions (hockey, netball, etc), it's common to think that athletic events are a masculine activity and not a feminine one, and the body you tend to see on female athletes (smaller breasts, larger muscles, etc) strays away from the traditional 'feminine' appearance and closer to a stereotypical 'masculine' look than is expected for women. Thus, the assumption is that women who take part in sport are more masculine in mindset and interests, and 'attracted to women' is assumed to be part of that standard package.
Yes, every part of that reasoning is stupid as fuck, but so are people.
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- Location
- Toronto
There's also the all female Hollyhead Harpies quidditch team, which in the In Universe source of the 'female quidditch players are likely gay' stereotype, alongside the real world prejudice that butch/tomboy girls and women are all queer.
The stereotype is likely the actual source of Bagman's comment, but the more innocent source would be that Ginny is the Gryffindor reserve seeker. She's literally Holly's backup on the team so, given how the Seeker role plays out, she'd be the team member most likely to be working together with Holly. Unlike Chaser or Beater, you don't interact with the rest of your team that much as a Seeker.
- Location
- Ylisse
I suspect that is more that he was attracted to Grindelwald than any anti-gay prejudice, given I can't really see Dumbledore caring that much about the opinions of others.
Epsilon Rose
The King of Unrest
That part I can understand, but it seems like their relationship was secret even before Gridelwald went full wizard-reich. It also seems like he never had went out with anybody after that.
- Location
- Ylisse
I'm not sure they ever had a relationship.
Epsilon Rose
The King of Unrest
Maybe not a romantic one, but they were close friends and confidants.
- Location
- Australia
Pops in with a sick dab - I'm sorry to be off topic, but I wanted to say that I binge read the main..... Plot posts of this fic? Thread? So far and I'm absolutely in love with your writing. Amazing, brilliant, my brain's not working because I'm just squishing my own cheeks and squee'ing at the Yule Ball. Thank you for blessing me, and everyone else here
- Location
- Ylisse
Which is not him being Gay. And people didn't know they were friends until book 7.
Year Four, Chapter Twenty Six
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Year Four, Chapter Twenty Six
Hermione's hair was back to normal on Boxing Day. Holly thought she looked a little sad about that, but it really had been a lot of hair potions. Holly herself had to spend ten minutes cancelling malfunctioning glamour charms in front of her mirror.
"Did you enjoy the Ball, Holly?" Hermione asked, reading through a dry looking book on the history of transmutive alchemy.
"I'm still not sold on dancing, but it was pretty fun," Holly said, blushing when she thought about the kiss she and GInny had shared.
"I noticed Ginny seemed very happy about something," Hermione said.
"We're - I guess we're girlfriends? Oh, Merlin Hermione, I kissed her," Holly said. She didn't regret it, but it had been rather a spur of the moment decision.
"I'm happy for you Holly. I know she can help you when... when things are hard," Hermione said, not quite finding the right words.
"I don't need help," Holly said, instinctively. She felt the faintest tremor in her wand hand.
"I think we both know that's a lie, Holly. Everyone needs help sometimes - even heroines with no sense of self-preservation,"
"I've got a sense of self-preservation," Holly mumbled. Hermione merely raised one eyebrow and went back to her book.
They met up with Ron and Ginny in the Common Room, which was still mostly deserted. Holly cuddled up next to Ginny on one of the faded red couches, the cold very noticeable now the fire was just embers.
"You'll never believe what I overheard last night," Ron said, not even blinking when he saw Holly and Ginny.
"What?" Hermione asked, interested.
"Well, Hagrid was talking to Madame Maxime, and apparently he's a half-giant!" Ron said, looking around to make sure nobody could overhear. Ginny gasped, Holly blinked, and Hermione looked mostly unphased.
"Well of course he is, Ronald," Hermione said, her tone matter-of-fact.
"Is being a half-giant bad?" Holly asked. She didn't know much about giants, but she couldn't imagine Hagrid being all that bad. He might love 'interesting critters' but he was kinder than almost anyone Holly had met.
"I'm not saying Hagrid's bad... but you know about giants," Ron said, looking very uncomfortable.
"I don't know about giants," Holly replied.
"Well, they're - they're not very nice. Hagrid said as much himself - they just really like killing," Ron said.
"Okay, but Hagrid's about as harmless as a nine-foot-tall man could be," Holly said.
"And you're pretty firmly on the side of good, but people still thought you were a dark witch for being a parselmouth," Ginny said, looking at Holly meaningfully. Neither of them was all too eager to use their ability to talk to snakes in public.
"There aren't any giants in Britain, though - the last ones were wiped out before the Statute of Secrecy. I wonder how Hagrid's parents met..." Hermione said.
The last few days of their Christmas holiday passed quickly, with everyone feeling rather spent from the Yule Ball. Quite a few Gryffindors were frantically working on the homework they'd put off in the Common Room, so Holly and her friends often wandered the halls and the snow-covered ground during the day.
Holly and Ginny were a little more affectionate with one another - often holding hands or sitting next to one another. Holly kissed her girlfriend occasionally, which was a thought that seemed amazing to her every time she had it. Ron made faces if they kissed in front of him, despite the very tame nature of it.
On the first day of the new term, Holly and her friends received a very unpleasant surprise at breakfast. The front page of the Daily Prophet bore a huge article by Rita Skeeter all about how Hagrid was a half-giant and full of baseless accusations. Some of them were really stretching the limits of plausibility, even for Skeeter, Holly thought - how many people would believe that Goyle had been badly bitten by a flobberworm?
"This is... this Skeeter bitch has gone too far," Hermione said as they walked towards Care of Magical Creatures, and Holly was amazed to hear Hermione use language like that. Her bookish friend might not be so rules-bound after all their adventures, but Holly had never heard her swear before.
"How'd she know is the question, isn't it? Luna and I were the only ones there apart from Hagrid or Madame Maxime. Neither of them would tell Skeeter that stuff," Ron said.
"Are you sure Skeeter didn't find out some other way?" Holly asked.
"Some of the stuff she printed was pretty specific - Hagrid said he'd never told anyone about some of it," Ron replied.
"Are you sure about Luna?" Hermione asked.
"Her dad runs a - well, judging by this rubbish, a competing paper. It's full of stories about crumple-horned snorcacks and made-up conspiracies. She hates the Daily Prophet, and Skeeter even more. Madame Maxime... well she denied it to Hagrid, but she's gotta be one too, yeah?" Ron said. Hermione nodded slowly, obviously thinking hard.
"Maybe she's a legilimens? Doing a reading with just eye contact is pretty hard, but she might be that good," Holly said.
"Maybe she's got an invisibility cloak?" Ron offered.
They had arrived at Care of Magical Creatures by that point, however, and Hagrid wasn't waiting for them. Instead, an elderly witch with close-cropped grey hair stood waiting for them outside of Hagrid's Cabin.
"Hurry up now, the bell rang five minutes ago!" she said, her voice sharp and measured.
"Who're you?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Professor Grubbly-Plank. I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures Professor - now, get a move on or it's detention for the lot of you," she said and started to herd them all towards the edge of the woods.
The gigantic winged horses that the Beauxbatons carriage used to fly were here, tethered on very long leashes. Standing a little to the side of them, however, was a smaller animal - it was only the size of a regular horse. The unicorn, with pure white hair and a long horn, was not tied down or enclosed in a paddock. It simply stood, looking relaxed, near the winged horses.
Many of the girls whispered excitedly when they saw it, and Holly was intrigued. She didn't know much about unicorns beyond what Hagrid had told her in her first year, and that they were magically powerful enough for their tail-hairs to work as wand cores.
"Boys to the back now - they get nervous around you. Girls, you can approach," Professor Grubbly-Plank said, and without thinking about it Holly walked forward with the other girls. Grubbly-Plank put her arm out and caught Holly, stopping her from getting any closer.
"I said boys to the back, Potter. Five points from Gryffindor for disobeying safety-" the Professor began, and the entire class seemed to take in a breath. Holly felt like someone had kicked her in the gut.
"She's not a boy, Professor," Hermione said. Her voice was calm but firm, and she looked the older witch right in the eye.
"Potions alone cannot replicate the sacred feminine aura of-" Grubbly-Plank said, but Holly ignored her. Hermione standing up for her had given her the time to react, and so she simply walked towards the Unicorn. It neighed at her softly but didn't seem at all bothered. Indeed, it nuzzled its nose against Holly, and she gently patted it.
For the rest of the lesson, Grubbly-Plank kept glaring at Holly, and she found any excuse to dock her points. The whole lesson was unpleasant at best, and to make it even worse Hagrid wouldn't emerge from his cabin to talk to Holly afterwards. Pansy Parkinson kept making snide comments about Hagrid, and about Holly, which went unpunished by Grubbly-Plank.
Care of Magical Creatures, which Holly had always enjoyed, was now her least favourite class. Hagrid wasn't seen at all that first week, and Holly was getting worried about him. He was clearly very upset about the article, and she wished she knew some way to help her friend.
Holly soon started practising her swimming in the Black Lake, the warming runes sewed into her swimming costume allowing her to swim in it without freezing to death. She sometimes saw the other champions there, though only Krum looked to be practising his swimming like her. Cedric and Fleur both disappeared beneath the surface, scouting out the lake.
She did the same one chilly Friday, diving beneath the surface with her bubblehead charm active. It was hard to see in the dark water, but she was able to get a basic layout of the bottom of the lake during the first week of term. She knew where the merpeople lived, where most of the creatures dwelled - and that the giant squid was indeed very, very large.
Halfway through January, there was a Hogsmeade Weekend. Ginny was very excited, as it was only her second time visiting the magical village. Neither she nor Holly was the type to enjoy Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, but they still walked around the village together. Ron and Hermione went into the Three Broomsticks, and Holly could see them bickering over a game of chess as she walked down the main street of Hogsmeade.
"Those two really do enjoy arguing, huh?" Holly said. She really didn't understand it, and it made her uncomfortable - but she knew she'd never get them to stop.
"It's barmy. Ooooh, they have new training snitches - let's go look," Ginny said, pointing to the sporting goods shop. They wandered all over Hogsmeade, not doing anything all that different from a usual visit to the village on their date - save that Ginny kissed her once or twice. Holly thought that was pretty good, as far as these things went.
When they returned to the Three Broomsticks to meet back up with their friends, however, they arrived to find Hermione screaming at someone. Holly's first thought was that she and Ron had gotten into a real argument, but then she realised what Hermione was saying - and who she was shouting at.
"-You really don't care, do you! You'll hurt whoever it takes for some... cheap tabloid rubbish - 'bad bite from a flobberworm'!? Did you ever have a single shred of journalistic integrity, or were you born a heartless-"
"Shut up, you silly little girl. You're making my ears ring. Merlin, who do you think you are talking to me like that?" Rita Skeeter said, coldy.
"Someone with half a brain!" Hermione retorted, and then she turned towards the exit of the pub and dragged Ron with her. Holly and Ginny followed their friends out, eyes wide.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Holly asked.
"Do I look okay? I just screamed at a journalist... at least my parents don't read the Daily Prophet, so there's not all that much she can really do," Hermione said.
"I wouldn't be so sure, Hermione - Rita Skeeter's one nasty lady. We still don't know how she found out about Hagrid, remember?" Ginny said.
"Hmmph. We'll see. And on the topic of Hagrid, he's not hiding any longer," Hermione said and started charging off towards Hagrid's hut. Holly followed her, and then a second later so did Ron and Ginny.
Hermione's hair was back to normal on Boxing Day. Holly thought she looked a little sad about that, but it really had been a lot of hair potions. Holly herself had to spend ten minutes cancelling malfunctioning glamour charms in front of her mirror.
"Did you enjoy the Ball, Holly?" Hermione asked, reading through a dry looking book on the history of transmutive alchemy.
"I'm still not sold on dancing, but it was pretty fun," Holly said, blushing when she thought about the kiss she and GInny had shared.
"I noticed Ginny seemed very happy about something," Hermione said.
"We're - I guess we're girlfriends? Oh, Merlin Hermione, I kissed her," Holly said. She didn't regret it, but it had been rather a spur of the moment decision.
"I'm happy for you Holly. I know she can help you when... when things are hard," Hermione said, not quite finding the right words.
"I don't need help," Holly said, instinctively. She felt the faintest tremor in her wand hand.
"I think we both know that's a lie, Holly. Everyone needs help sometimes - even heroines with no sense of self-preservation,"
"I've got a sense of self-preservation," Holly mumbled. Hermione merely raised one eyebrow and went back to her book.
They met up with Ron and Ginny in the Common Room, which was still mostly deserted. Holly cuddled up next to Ginny on one of the faded red couches, the cold very noticeable now the fire was just embers.
"You'll never believe what I overheard last night," Ron said, not even blinking when he saw Holly and Ginny.
"What?" Hermione asked, interested.
"Well, Hagrid was talking to Madame Maxime, and apparently he's a half-giant!" Ron said, looking around to make sure nobody could overhear. Ginny gasped, Holly blinked, and Hermione looked mostly unphased.
"Well of course he is, Ronald," Hermione said, her tone matter-of-fact.
"Is being a half-giant bad?" Holly asked. She didn't know much about giants, but she couldn't imagine Hagrid being all that bad. He might love 'interesting critters' but he was kinder than almost anyone Holly had met.
"I'm not saying Hagrid's bad... but you know about giants," Ron said, looking very uncomfortable.
"I don't know about giants," Holly replied.
"Well, they're - they're not very nice. Hagrid said as much himself - they just really like killing," Ron said.
"Okay, but Hagrid's about as harmless as a nine-foot-tall man could be," Holly said.
"And you're pretty firmly on the side of good, but people still thought you were a dark witch for being a parselmouth," Ginny said, looking at Holly meaningfully. Neither of them was all too eager to use their ability to talk to snakes in public.
"There aren't any giants in Britain, though - the last ones were wiped out before the Statute of Secrecy. I wonder how Hagrid's parents met..." Hermione said.
The last few days of their Christmas holiday passed quickly, with everyone feeling rather spent from the Yule Ball. Quite a few Gryffindors were frantically working on the homework they'd put off in the Common Room, so Holly and her friends often wandered the halls and the snow-covered ground during the day.
Holly and Ginny were a little more affectionate with one another - often holding hands or sitting next to one another. Holly kissed her girlfriend occasionally, which was a thought that seemed amazing to her every time she had it. Ron made faces if they kissed in front of him, despite the very tame nature of it.
On the first day of the new term, Holly and her friends received a very unpleasant surprise at breakfast. The front page of the Daily Prophet bore a huge article by Rita Skeeter all about how Hagrid was a half-giant and full of baseless accusations. Some of them were really stretching the limits of plausibility, even for Skeeter, Holly thought - how many people would believe that Goyle had been badly bitten by a flobberworm?
"This is... this Skeeter bitch has gone too far," Hermione said as they walked towards Care of Magical Creatures, and Holly was amazed to hear Hermione use language like that. Her bookish friend might not be so rules-bound after all their adventures, but Holly had never heard her swear before.
"How'd she know is the question, isn't it? Luna and I were the only ones there apart from Hagrid or Madame Maxime. Neither of them would tell Skeeter that stuff," Ron said.
"Are you sure Skeeter didn't find out some other way?" Holly asked.
"Some of the stuff she printed was pretty specific - Hagrid said he'd never told anyone about some of it," Ron replied.
"Are you sure about Luna?" Hermione asked.
"Her dad runs a - well, judging by this rubbish, a competing paper. It's full of stories about crumple-horned snorcacks and made-up conspiracies. She hates the Daily Prophet, and Skeeter even more. Madame Maxime... well she denied it to Hagrid, but she's gotta be one too, yeah?" Ron said. Hermione nodded slowly, obviously thinking hard.
"Maybe she's a legilimens? Doing a reading with just eye contact is pretty hard, but she might be that good," Holly said.
"Maybe she's got an invisibility cloak?" Ron offered.
They had arrived at Care of Magical Creatures by that point, however, and Hagrid wasn't waiting for them. Instead, an elderly witch with close-cropped grey hair stood waiting for them outside of Hagrid's Cabin.
"Hurry up now, the bell rang five minutes ago!" she said, her voice sharp and measured.
"Who're you?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Professor Grubbly-Plank. I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures Professor - now, get a move on or it's detention for the lot of you," she said and started to herd them all towards the edge of the woods.
The gigantic winged horses that the Beauxbatons carriage used to fly were here, tethered on very long leashes. Standing a little to the side of them, however, was a smaller animal - it was only the size of a regular horse. The unicorn, with pure white hair and a long horn, was not tied down or enclosed in a paddock. It simply stood, looking relaxed, near the winged horses.
Many of the girls whispered excitedly when they saw it, and Holly was intrigued. She didn't know much about unicorns beyond what Hagrid had told her in her first year, and that they were magically powerful enough for their tail-hairs to work as wand cores.
"Boys to the back now - they get nervous around you. Girls, you can approach," Professor Grubbly-Plank said, and without thinking about it Holly walked forward with the other girls. Grubbly-Plank put her arm out and caught Holly, stopping her from getting any closer.
"I said boys to the back, Potter. Five points from Gryffindor for disobeying safety-" the Professor began, and the entire class seemed to take in a breath. Holly felt like someone had kicked her in the gut.
"She's not a boy, Professor," Hermione said. Her voice was calm but firm, and she looked the older witch right in the eye.
"Potions alone cannot replicate the sacred feminine aura of-" Grubbly-Plank said, but Holly ignored her. Hermione standing up for her had given her the time to react, and so she simply walked towards the Unicorn. It neighed at her softly but didn't seem at all bothered. Indeed, it nuzzled its nose against Holly, and she gently patted it.
For the rest of the lesson, Grubbly-Plank kept glaring at Holly, and she found any excuse to dock her points. The whole lesson was unpleasant at best, and to make it even worse Hagrid wouldn't emerge from his cabin to talk to Holly afterwards. Pansy Parkinson kept making snide comments about Hagrid, and about Holly, which went unpunished by Grubbly-Plank.
Care of Magical Creatures, which Holly had always enjoyed, was now her least favourite class. Hagrid wasn't seen at all that first week, and Holly was getting worried about him. He was clearly very upset about the article, and she wished she knew some way to help her friend.
Holly soon started practising her swimming in the Black Lake, the warming runes sewed into her swimming costume allowing her to swim in it without freezing to death. She sometimes saw the other champions there, though only Krum looked to be practising his swimming like her. Cedric and Fleur both disappeared beneath the surface, scouting out the lake.
She did the same one chilly Friday, diving beneath the surface with her bubblehead charm active. It was hard to see in the dark water, but she was able to get a basic layout of the bottom of the lake during the first week of term. She knew where the merpeople lived, where most of the creatures dwelled - and that the giant squid was indeed very, very large.
Halfway through January, there was a Hogsmeade Weekend. Ginny was very excited, as it was only her second time visiting the magical village. Neither she nor Holly was the type to enjoy Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, but they still walked around the village together. Ron and Hermione went into the Three Broomsticks, and Holly could see them bickering over a game of chess as she walked down the main street of Hogsmeade.
"Those two really do enjoy arguing, huh?" Holly said. She really didn't understand it, and it made her uncomfortable - but she knew she'd never get them to stop.
"It's barmy. Ooooh, they have new training snitches - let's go look," Ginny said, pointing to the sporting goods shop. They wandered all over Hogsmeade, not doing anything all that different from a usual visit to the village on their date - save that Ginny kissed her once or twice. Holly thought that was pretty good, as far as these things went.
When they returned to the Three Broomsticks to meet back up with their friends, however, they arrived to find Hermione screaming at someone. Holly's first thought was that she and Ron had gotten into a real argument, but then she realised what Hermione was saying - and who she was shouting at.
"-You really don't care, do you! You'll hurt whoever it takes for some... cheap tabloid rubbish - 'bad bite from a flobberworm'!? Did you ever have a single shred of journalistic integrity, or were you born a heartless-"
"Shut up, you silly little girl. You're making my ears ring. Merlin, who do you think you are talking to me like that?" Rita Skeeter said, coldy.
"Someone with half a brain!" Hermione retorted, and then she turned towards the exit of the pub and dragged Ron with her. Holly and Ginny followed their friends out, eyes wide.
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Holly asked.
"Do I look okay? I just screamed at a journalist... at least my parents don't read the Daily Prophet, so there's not all that much she can really do," Hermione said.
"I wouldn't be so sure, Hermione - Rita Skeeter's one nasty lady. We still don't know how she found out about Hagrid, remember?" Ginny said.
"Hmmph. We'll see. And on the topic of Hagrid, he's not hiding any longer," Hermione said and started charging off towards Hagrid's hut. Holly followed her, and then a second later so did Ron and Ginny.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Unicorns give no shit for gender essentialism I see. Also, here's to hoping Holly sends Skeeter a howler if she writes shit about Hermione.
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
...urgh. Plank might have had a point about the unicorn thing- I'd certainly be willing to say she had a genuine reason to be cautious about it- but the way she went about it was completely wrong. And then she turned out to be wrong herself, and that whatever 'sacred aura of femininity' she was on about doesn't care about physical sex and instead pings off gender. Overall, I'm not sure whether I read her as knowingly/intentionally transphobic or just stuck in her ways and petty about being proven wrong, but in either case it's a depressingly realistic reaction to Holly.
- Location
- Painting, Peach's Castle
Welp, here's hoping Grubby Plank is sacked.
And we put Skeeter in a jar.
And we put Skeeter in a jar.
That got a snort-laugh out of me.
I know what Hermione meant, but that's not where my mind went first thing.
- Location
- East TN
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Hers
umm, there is zero way to read her as not transphobic. She didn't say there might be a problem she said Holly was a boy. Being stuck in your ways isn't a valid excuse for phobic behavior.