Orson Scott Card has responded to calls to boycott the upcoming film adaptation of his 1985 sci-fi novel "Ender's Game" because of Card's opposition to same-sex marriage, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Geeks OUT, a gay-rights advocacy group, has created an event called Skip Ender's Game urging people to boycott the film scheduled to be released in November. Card has been adamant in his opposition to same-sex marriage for quite some time and serves as a board member on the National Organization for Marriage, the main advocacy group fighting same-sex marriage, according to Entertainment Weekly.
On their website promoting the boycott Geeks OUT explains what they hoped to accomplish with the demonstration.
"By pledging to Skip Ender's Game, we can send a clear and serious message to Card and those that do business with his brand of anti-gay activism - whatever he's selling, we're not buying," the website says. "The queer geek community will not subsidize his fear-mongering and religious bullying. We will not pay him to demean, insult and oppress us."
Card's statement argues that the film has nothing to do with same-sex marriage and that a boycott of the film is merely showing a lack of tolerance for those with differing opinions.
"'Enders Game' is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984," Card's statement read. "With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state."
"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 continued.
Card's political views have gotten him in trouble in the past. This past February when it was announced that Card would write an upcoming issue of "Adventures of Superman" for DC Comics a similar backlash and potential boycott arose. AllOut.org created a petition in reaction, according to The Huffington Post.
In an interview with Salon in 2000 Card dismissed a comparison of the gay rights movement to the civil rights movement.
"I find the comparison between civil rights based on race and supposed new rights being granted for what amounts to deviant behavior to be really kind of ridiculous," Card told Salon's Donna Minkowitz. "And the idea of 'gay marriage' - it's hard to find a ridiculous enough comparison. By the way, I'd really hate if your piece wound up focusing on the old charge that I'm a homophobe."
Earlier in the year those involved with the film wanted to distance themselves from Card's political views.
"Orson's politics are not reflective of the moviemakers," an anonymous source involved in the making of the film told The Hollywood Reporter. "We're adapting a work, not a person. The work will stand on its own."
