J.K. Rowling defends Tom Daley against religious bigots

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has slammed a religious group for suggesting that British diver Tom Daley failed to win a gold medal in Rio because he “turned” gay.

On Saturday, the UK’s Christian Voice ministry tweeted about the openly gay sportsman missing out on gold at the Olympics, commenting: “Turning gay doesn’t seem to have done Tom Daley any favours at #Rio2016.”

While he didn’t manage to score a gold medal, Daley certainly didn’t walk away empty-handed at the Games. He still won bronze in the men’s synchronised 10-meter platform diving event, along with his dive partner, Dan Goodfellow.

The virulently anti-gay Christian ministry went on to offer more offence with another tweet: “And we need to remember that Tom Daley only went gay because he was seduced by an older man…”

Daley, 22, came out as bisexual in 2013 and then said a few months later that he indentifies as gay. He is now engaged to Hollywood scriptwriter Dustin Lance Black, who is 20 years his senior.

Christian Voice was swiftly attacked for its appalling views on social media by a host of people, including Rowling. She wrote: “Can’t decide which is more offensive in this tweet, the stupidity or the spite.”

On its website, Christian Voice described Daley’s engagement to Black as a “sodomistic relationship” and stated that if he were to “walk away from the homosexual lifestyle” he “might improve his diving…”

The ministry’s Stephen Green also said that gay people can’t get married, but only “merely gay-married” and slammed South Africa’s Caster Semenya as “not a woman” who deserved to be pitied.

While Daley has admitted that he was “heartbroken” that he failed to quality in the 10m platform dive, he said he would “never give up on his dream of being an Olympic champion”.