'Ender's Game' author: Where's 'tolerance' now?
After gay-rights activists move to boycott the film version of "Ender's Game" to protest author Orson Scott Card's opposition to gay marriage, Card asks for tolerance of views like his.
Over the years, "Ender's Game" author Orson Scott Card has written screed after screed railing against gay marriage.
Here's just a selection: In 1990, he wrote an essay defending a Georgia law against sodomy, even in private. In 2004, he argued that gays have the legal right to marry, just not each other. In 2008, he published a long article arguing that homosexuality is a mental illness and a dysfunction, and that gay marriage would spell the end of democracy in the U.S. In 2012, he argued (incorrectly, at least in the U.S.) that no laws remained that discriminated against gay people.
In response to this well-documented history, queer geek organization Geeks Out called for a boycott of the upcoming sci-fi film "Ender's Game," which is based on Card's 1985 book, a mainstay of geek teen libraries since its release. "Stand against anti-gay activism and deny Orson Scott Card your financial support by pledging to skip Ender's Game," Geeks Out said.
In response, Orson Scott Card recently released a statement to Entertainment Weekly to dismiss the boycott's position, arguing that the book itself makes no mention of gay rights, and besides, since the Supreme Court recently struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the battle is over (it's not).
"Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute," Card said.
That's not an argument that's likely to carry much weight with anyone who was set to boycott his film, which arrives on November 1. On Twitter, the response has been overwhelming.
Orson Scott Card wondering if gay marriage advocates will show "tolerance" to anti-gay activists. Uh, sure, we'll let you get married?
— Calamity Jon (@calamityjon) July 9, 2013
May Orson Scott Card be forever known in all media as "anti-gay author Orson Scott Card." May his views lead his obit. He deserves no less.
— Adam Carl (@AdamWearsPants) July 9, 2013
Orson Scott Card is a total homophobe? Ok, well F seeing that movie, then.
— Steve Isaacs (@steveisaacs) July 10, 2013
For the record, Orson Scott Card writes good sci fi, but he's a hateful man, and I'm not supplying him with $ to push his anti LGBT agenda.
— Patty (@suo_gan) July 10, 2013
I hope the next news item I read about Orson Scott Card is when he's hit by a truck.
— Chris Sims (@theisb) July 9, 2013
Earlier this year, Card's appointment to pen a Superman story for DC created a massive backlash against the author, leading to the indefinite postponement of the project after artist Chris Sprouse left.
(Source: Crave Australia)