--- title: JK Rowling Reacts to Ireland Legalizing Gay Marriage description: JK Rowling sent a hilarious tweet regarding Ireland legalizing same sex marriage canonical: https://time.com/3895184/jk-rowling-ireland-legalizes-same-sex-marriage/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-23T20:20:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:20:16.010Z og:title: J.K. Rowling Had the Best Response to Ireland Legalizing Gay Marriage og:description: The 'Harry Potter' author tweeted this popular Internet meme at a fan og:url: https://time.com/3895184/jk-rowling-ireland-legalizes-same-sex-marriage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt077928b87185e95d/6988517b0b72e3b5646e4244/jk-rowling1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Author J.K. Rowling ceremoniously lights the Empire State Building to mark the US launch of her non-profit organization on April 9, 2015 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: J.K. Rowling Had the Best Response to Ireland Legalizing Gay Marriage twitter:description: The 'Harry Potter' author tweeted this popular Internet meme at a fan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt077928b87185e95d/6988517b0b72e3b5646e4244/jk-rowling1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # J.K. Rowling Had the Best Response to Ireland Legalizing Gay Marriage  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 23, 2015 8:20 PM CUT  Author J.K. Rowling ceremoniously lights the Empire State Building to mark the US launch of her non-profit organization on April 9, 2015 in New York City. Author J.K. Rowling ceremoniously lights the Empire State Building to mark the US launch of her non-profit organization on April 9, 2015 in New York City.Cindy Ord—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 23, 2015 8:20 PM CUT _Harry Potter_ author J.K. Rowling has been tweeting up a storm since Ireland [became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage](http://time.com/3895041/ireland-legalize-gay-marriage/ "undefined") by a national vote. When an Irish fan tweeted to the best-selling children’s book writer with the hope that Ireland’s vote would make wizards like Albus Dumbledore feel more welcome in the country, Rowling tweeted back a photo of Keanu Reeves with the caption “WHAT IF DUMBLEDORE AND GANDALF WERE GAY TOGETHER.” (The [meme](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/conspiracy-keanu "undefined") is inspired by the horrified look on Reeves’ face in the 1989 movie _Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure_, and in this case references Dumbledore, the headmaster of wizard school Hogwarts in the _Harry Potter_ series, and Gandalf, the heroic wizard from _The Lord of the Rings_.) .@justaoifethings 💚🍀🌈💚 Then they could get married IN IRELAND! 💚🍀🌈💚 [pic.twitter.com/yXedPavZfp](http://t.co/yXedPavZfp "undefined") — J.K. Rowling (@jk\_rowling) [May 23, 2015](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/602062845384204288?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") Rowling revealed in 2007 that she always thought of Dumbledore as gay, though his sexuality was not stated in the books. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3895184/jk-rowling-ireland-legalizes-same-sex-marriage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3895184/jk-rowling-ireland-legalizes-same-sex-marriage/"},"headline":"J.K. 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