JK Rowling just schooled Twitter on Dumbledore’s sexual orientation —and LBGT equality

JK Rowling has once again proven just how amazing she truly is by dropping a simple and fantastic response to a fan who said via Twitter that they just don’t “see” Professor Albus Dumbledore as gay.

Rowling’s response?

Perfect! With just eight words she succinctly managed to shut down the inaccurate, offensive assumption that gay people “look” a certain way, and that Dumbledore’s sexual orientation is disconcerting. Of course, this isn’t the first time she’s had to deal with homophobia from fans. Last year Rowling also shut down a fan who tweeted a homophobic statement about Dumbledore. It’s pretty shocking that she’s had to defend a character’s (her character’s) sexual orientation multiple times —this sadly reveals a lot about the undercurrent of homophobia that still exists on the Internet.

As the Mirror reports, Rowling has always taken a low-key approach to Dumbledore’s sexuality, having only clarified in 2007 that he and his rival Grindlewald were in love. At the time, she said of fans’ happy reactions, “I would have told you earlier if I had known it would make you so happy.”

Of course, Dumbledore’s sexuality changes nothing about his role in the books or the series overall, and it shouldn’t. But Rowling’s perfectly whip-smart ability to school homophobic readers is inspiring. And it also teaches us how to respond to those who are ignorant and misinformed.

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