J.K. Rowling demolishes Westboro Baptist Church, defends gay wizards

The much-loved UK author has been lauded by fans for supporting marriage equality, propagating the possibility of a same-sex wizarding power couple and deliver a stinging take down of the Westboro Baptist Church, known for its opposition to homosexuality, all in the space of less than a week.

Rowling took to Twitter the share her delight in the news that Ireland had voted "yes" to legalise same sex marriage.

Sitting here watching the Irish make history. Extraordinary and wonderful.— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 23, 2015

Among the many responses was one novel idea from a fantasy fan.

@jk_rowling proud to see us being so open and accepting, at long last! I hope Dumbledore and all witches and wizards feel welcome here— Aoife (@justaoifethings) May 23, 2015

Rowling jubilantly blessed this fan fiction union, tweeting "Then they could get married IN IRELAND!" with a meme of a shocked Keanu Reeves accompanied by the text: "What if Dumbledore and Gandalf were gay together".

But the Westboro Baptist Church, best known for picketing the funerals of gay soldiers had their own message for the author.

Rowling didn't hold back, firing off a pithy and cutting reply.

.@WBCsigns Alas, the sheer awesomeness of such a union in such a place would blow your tiny bigoted minds out of your thick sloping skulls.— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2015

And made sure her message hit its rightful mark.

I don't care about WBC. I think it's important that scared gay kids who aren't out yet see hate speech challenged. https://t.co/XumjDmEjuw— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 27, 2015

The tweet earned 4,700 shares and was favourited over 10,000 times as her followers cheered on the author and her legions of fans shared their appreciation for the outspoken accidental adovcate.

It turns out the feeling's mutual.

I'm just going to sit here and beam at this for a little while. https://t.co/SuLaCQv33W— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 25, 2015