Why I'm not seeing Ender's Game, and why you shouldn't either

Let me level with you. My father loves the novel Ender's Game.  I mean, he LOVES Ender's Game. I never read it, myself. In high school, I was too busy reading Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange and Catch-22. Even as a kid I was too busy being engulfed in the world of Stephen King (reading The Stand in 7th grade is quite fun.

But, in college, I learned about Orson Scott Card, the author of Ender's Game. The author of this book that my father loved, my friends loved, and I had been thinking of getting around to due to peer pressure. But, my freshman year, I learned about Orson Scott Card, and that totally fucked my world view in fours.

Growing up, I wasn't inundated by anti-gay culture. I wasn't bombarded by religious messages saying being queer was terrible, and that I'm going to hell. I had a distant cousin that was gay. I had the early internet, where Geocities frequently had gay education mixed in with porn.  I learned what Stonewall was, and the meaning of the Pink Triangle while looking for whack material. Geocities gay geeks, if you're out there, know that you educated at least one kid about gay history when he had nobody else to teach him.  Thank you.

And, so, it wasn't until college when Orson Scott Card's essay from 1990 popped onto my screen. That essay? The Hypocrites of Homosexuality. In it, Card calls for homosexuality to be criminalized, and that the Church should demonize any and all out-of-the-closet homosexuals. He wants all homosexuality to be in the closet, and to remain behind locked doors where nobody can see, or hear. And, to also arrest people for trying to pick up guys.  Basically, he wanted us to be in jail if we ever stepped out in public, despite his hypocritical statement to the contrary.

Card always says that he was being liberal for the times (1990) and the place (Mormon audience). But, he's encouraging the Mormon audience to demonize the homosexual unless they repent their sinful ways, and come into the straight fold.

Reading that a decade later at first shocked me. Then, it offended me. Then, it saddened me. Then, it pissed me off. This motherfucking asshole thinks that I'm less of a person because I want to live my life the way I want to live it?  This guy, who my friends think is an amazing writer, thinks that I am a danger to his way of life? I didn't give two flying fucks about this douchebag or the religion he was a part of, but he wanted to make my lifestyle illegal?!  Oh, hell to the fucking no.

Orson Scott Card didn't just challenge my lifestyle and make me feel like I was less than nothing. Orson Scott Card wanted to make me illegal. He wanted to raid my bars where I communicated with my friends, and picked up people who were willing to be picked up, and he wanted to put me in jail until I conformed to his lifestyle.  That is the Orson Scott Card who wrote Ender's Game.

Orson Scott Card made me into a minor activist. If a friend said I should read Ender's Game, I would point them to this essay and say No, I Will Not. They even offered to loan me his book, and I refuse to read it. For all I know, Ender's Game is the greatest book since Dracula, or whatever you consider a great classic.  But, I refuse to read one word of it because he made me feel like less of a person than he was by saying I should be illegal.

When I was being all activisty, my friends hadn't known Orson Scott Card's pure hatred of all things homosexual. And, it wasn't really all that big yet. In 2004, Orson Scott Card had commented that homosexuality was the result of "a disturbing seduction, or rape, or molestation, or abuse." He just told me that I was a molested child.  I'm not, by the way. But, even still, the gay community hadn't really addressed Orson Scott Card at large until...Hamlet.

Orson Scott Card wrote a reimagining of Hamlet, where King Hamlet was a gay pedophile who had molested Laertes, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as little kids. And, King Hamlet was actually killed by Horatio as revenge for the childhood molestation.  He also turned Hamlet into an idiot who doesn't really want the throne after his uncle takes it from him. Yeah, the author of Ender's Game turned Hamlet into a gay pedophilic rape-revenge story.

Orson Scott Card then turned up as a chair member on the board of National Organization of Marriage, which is an anti-gay political group who makes and spends money by demonizing gays and their right to marriage benefits such as hospital visitation rights and death tax benefits. This is the Orson Scott Card who wrote Ender's Game.

This is not character assassination. This is merely saying exactly who Orson Scott Card is. He is a Mormon who is willing to put his money where his mouth is, and demonize gays to make money. That is the kind of guy who wrote Ender's Game.

This Orson Scott Card has made $1.5 million from the film rights alone. This Orson Scott Card is listed as a producer on the film of Ender's Game. If Ender's Game succeeds wildly, Orson Scott Card will have his whole Ender series optioned.  He will be making money hand over fist. And, my readers, if you see, or buy, or read Ender's Game, you will be supporting this type of backwards ass thinking, and giving this man more money to use against homosexuals in the future.

This is why you should not see Ender's Game. This is why you should not buy the book Ender's Game. This is why you should not support Orson Scott Card in any way, shape or form.

...

And, then there's the studio.  Back in July, Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment vowed to do a gay benefit premiere of Ender's Game. They have been trying to distance themselves from Orson Scott Card, saying he already made his money.  But, they want to do sequels. They want to make money from this so they can option more of Orson Scott Card's novels.

And, they lied.

Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment never did a gay benefit premiere of Ender's Game. That never materialized. They haven't given any money to offset the $1.5m that the producers paid to Orson Scott Card, so far.  Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment are making money by giving money to somebody who is completely working against gay interests. And, they refuse to do anything about that.

Do you really want to give money to that?  Other Lionsgate films you can boycott, if you're feeling more pissed off than me: Escape Plan, Catching Fire, and A Madea Christmas.

Fuck you Lionsgate. You're now tied to Orson Scott Card, especially since you reneged on your promises in July.  Suck it.