Comments on: Orson Scott Card is a Big Fat Homophobe

By: Free Range Librarian › ALA Annual 2011: The Trip Report

Free Range Librarian › ALA Annual 2011: The Trip Report — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:23:34 +0000

[...] about homosexuality are out of sync with the positions on diversity shared by most libraries. As I posted earlier, in 2008, there is a major distinction between buying books that readers want to read and uplifting an author [...]

By: ELBSeattle

ELBSeattle — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:01:18 +0000

I read Ender’s Game and a few other OS Card books, including the first few of the ‘Alvin Maker’ series. I was so convinced that Card was writing about lesbian/gay people using the ‘knack’ as a pretty straightforward metaphor. I did some digging to find out if Orson Scott Card was gay – that is how deeply his description of those who were forced to hide their ‘knack’ from religious leaders seemed to echo my own experience of being gay. Well, you all know the rest of the story. Not only did I find out that OSC is not gay, he is virulently homophobic. I couldn’t read his books any more. It felt like trying to eat lunch in a house where I was clearly not wanted or welcome.
It’s a pity how a mind can be so clear and vibrant in one area and so dark, backward and mean in another.

By: AustinDM

AustinDM — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:19:08 +0000

Oh NO! Card has an opinion! And it doesn’t conform with yours! How DARE he!

By: Annie Moose

Annie Moose — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:04:56 +0000

To be frank, what does it matter what the personal views of an author are, so long as they don’t shove them down your throats in the books? If I’d never read this, I never would have known about OSC’s views, as they are nowhere to be found in the books. Actually, I always thought the books were very balanced, particularly on the topic of religion.

By: shukov

shukov — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:54:06 +0000

Remember when men were men, women were women and homosexuals were perverts? The world has changed for the worse.

By: T.H.

T.H. — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:14:24 +0000

I’m not going to read all the comments to see whether my views about this have been expressed, but I’d just like to say that I love ever book I’ve read by OSC. His views are wrong and bigoted, but he is still an amazing writer.

By: Alex Kenobi

Alex Kenobi — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:13:07 +0000

And really people have any of you read his book? How could you call it homophobic? next you’ll be calling him a teacher of paedophiles because the children run round naked.

By: Alex Kenobi

Alex Kenobi — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:08:42 +0000

JC I think you hit on an interesting comment there “Most amazing human being” Human Being … where does it say that as he has less right to being human with all the morals, values, and prejudices that go with it.

The very act of being human opens us to being prejudiced. Me, I’m not prejudiced against gays or african americans or even asians. Im prejudiced against extremists of any view and i can tall you that Card isnt. He has a right to his own view point and no amount of slagging the guy on these sorts of sites is going to change it.

In no way does he represent the homphobic people in his books. In fact he is one of a very few authors that will even include them in his writing in order to be fair.

Perhaps people should go hassle those authors who refuse to write on the topic while at the same time intemating that they are non prejudiced against something that in most cases is caused by nature not nurture.

By: Alan Suto

Alan Suto — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:58:10 +0000

Thanks to Stumble! I found this great discussion. Evers and KGS are both taking sides that when finally distilled are “extreme”. Homophobia is wrong and the institutionalized practice of it turns gays and lesbians into second class citizens. This has nothing to do with whether or not OSC is a good author and has had a positive impact on young peoples lives through his work. I see many people trying to defend Christians of the US as not homophobic and that is just plain blind. If you just look at the raw statistical data from voter turnout and how they voted it is easy to see that more than half of Christians either don’t want gays and lesbians to have equal rights or just don’t care enough about their fellow citizens to get out and vote to oppose their own religious leaders initiatives when they get put on the ballot. Yes there are christian groups that are welcoming and not all thus not all christians hold the same views on homosexuality but the majority do.

By: Glossolalia Black

Glossolalia Black — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:45:11 +0000

I met Orson Scott Card once, at a book signing in the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I had no idea about his politics, and thought him to be a personable guy in the brief moment that I had contact with him. I wanted to get my copy of Ender's Game signed because my then-boyfriend had been reading it to me in bed all week. I had not read the book before, and it was a good story that I enjoyed immensely. When I read about OSC's open homophobia, it bummed me out extremely. But then again, it always sucks when you hear someone you like has a rather unattractive personality trait. He was never my hero, so it wasn't like when a hero falls, but it is sort of like it in microcosm. It's like when you find out that the cute guy in class won't date black chicks, and therefore, would not be likely to date you. Or, rather, me. You get the point. But then again, it isn't like that at all. If the award is based at all on his body of work, then his body of work certainly contains the fact that he thinks that homosexuals don't deserve to shape society and define marriage at all, because that is best left to "the religion that invented marriage." Hah, no, seriously, that was another homophobe I knew who said that. I'm sure he didn't write all those awful things he said about queer folks hoping that young GLBTQI people would read it and find themselves feeling horrible. I'm sure he just thinks there's something wrong with them. Something that should be fixed before they become those awful adult homosexuals. You know, trying to have the same rights as straights and all, all of them telling him that words do make an impact on lives, and that is why we write them. Kids read stuff that's not "meant for their age group" all the time. I devoured Stranger in a Strange Land in my teens and never touched the stuff that Heinlein meant as being for teens. If you're giving a prize for a man's entire ouvre, that also means blogs. If that is the case, then his winning the prize is unfair on the level that he is an outspoken homophobe. (Gay kids need love too.) There are people who are bigots who are also wonderful writers. Artists and writers are subcategories of human, and so are racists/sexists/homophobes. There's bound to be overlap.