I’d forgotten all about Card’s homophobic views. I’d seen the Ender’s Game preview in EW and was actually considering getting the inevitable collection, due purely to Pascual Ferry’s artwork. Guess I can save my money for something else, then.

And I eagerly await the entertaining pile-up sure to follow in this comments thread.

I’ve ignored Card’s extremist views and if you ask around you’ll see that the science fiction community has as well (it isn’t polarized by politics the way it was in the 1960s and 1970s). In the past Card has said humorous things like claim Fox news is fair and balanced, but I figured he had his views in in a pluralistic society everyone does. But his anti-government rant leaps headlong into Tim McVey territory and I expect will finally get him the unwanted attention he deserves,

This is what makes America what is, the freedom to express your opinion as you see it. This guy is not different. After reading his rhetoric that is back by no facts but rather baseless arguments and comparisons that are so outrageous that no intelligent person would side with him on the basis of his arguments.

The bottom line in this issue is that two consenting adults should not be barred from LEGAL (not relgious) consumation of their relationship. This includes the polygamous relationships still endorsed by some sectors of the Mormon church (I love me some HBO’s Big Love). Or polyandry for that manner. As long as it is between consenting adults (not children) is has no affect on me. There is this thing called separation of church and state, and not hindering one individuals pursuit of happiness with your own.

I am sure others may see it differently, cool… again this is the USA. But I think Marvel in particular should rethink support of this writer given the number of gay people who buy comics. It tends to look like as if they support this man’s views. Besides what could be gayer than men and women in hardly any clothes or tight spandex wrestling and fondling each for dominant power in the universe…

I don’t think Marvel should be in the business of vetting the political views of its writers and artists, no matter how reprehensible someone may find them to be. If readers want to protest, they can do so by refusing to buy the comic and writing a letter to Marvel explaining why.

Marvel Comics’ mission should be to produce the best comics they possibly can, not hire people who conform to a particular political agenda.

Correction:

I meant to say “Gay comic fans cross the line into Nazi territory if they try to force Marvel to fire Card because he is against gay marriage.”

“I’m in complete agreement with you. Gay comic fans cross the line into Nazi if they try to force Marvel to fire Card because he is against gay marriage.”

So, you think if comic fans try to “force” Marvel to not extend more work-for-hire to Marvel via writing emails and not buying their books by Card (or their books in general), taht makes them like Nazis?

Um, in what way?

Re the Card editorial thing: The guy who wrote that piece a professional writer? Because, his dumb-ass opinions aside, that’s not a very well constructed or communicated argument.

It just makes me sad… I think Card’s a talented writer. I really enjoyed both Ender’s Game (aside from the fact that I never bought how young Ender was supposed to be) and Speaker For the Dead. I also read the first couple of Alvin Maker books and found them beautifully written. Then I learned about this crackpot’s political views and bigotry.

He repulses me so much that I can’t bring myself to read his work ever again. I already knew what a homophobe he is, but I didn’t know he’s advocating overthrow of the government now, and all this other garbage.

I won’t tell anyone not to read his stuff (just as I wouldn’t tell someone not to read Mein Kampf), but I think it would be a great thing if Marvel backed out of working with him, and I hope his Ender movie never gets made either. I’ll never understand how someone so talented can be such an idiot.

“It’s a slap in the face from Marvel to all of its gay fans (of which there are many, like myself) to have this jerk working for them.”

How so? Just don’t read his stuff. I’m under the belief that as long as his viewpoints and opinions don’t translate into his work, I really don’t see what the problem is. You don’t like him? Fine, don’t buy his stuff, but don’t get over dramatic saying Marvel is disrespecting it’s fan base because they hired him to make them some money.

I can understand wanting the work to speak for itself, and separating the art from the artist and all that, but what would the stance be if he was talking about interracial couples, or if he was talking about the “black rights” agenda? Or the right for women to vote? Gay marriage is a right that hasn’t been fully realized yet, so it makes it okay for him to oppose it with such disdain and vehemence? A vehemence that has always centered on his obstinate “the definition of marriage is a man and a woman period end of story it’s been like that since the beginning of time.”

I wonder if he’d let the argument drop if we allowed and recognized civil unions with the exact same legal rights as marriage. We’re not calling it “marriage” so that’d be okay, right? It’s completely a problem of definitions and terms, right? Then again, it’s also his problem with the “gay agenda” and that children will be taught that gay couples living together in monogamy is “normal” and not something that should be feared or persecuted. Why is it so imperative and dangerous for children to be taught that homosexual behavior is not normal? I know the big fear is always that children will then make the “choice” to be homosexual and then the future of the species becomes endangered because we’ll stop having children, or they will begin to be raised in “abnormal” households.

I’d forgotten how offensive I find his views on this matter. I’d forgotten how hard it became for me as a reader and retailer to just say “it’s separating the art from the artist, no more than that” after reading rant after rant about the societal dangers that homosexual marriage poses. I’d forgotten, and it kind of shames me how easy it was for me to look the other way on this, but I’m reminded again and I think we all should be reminded.

It’s not okay because it’s “just gay marriage.” It’s not just gay marriage. It’s not just a matter of how the terms are defined or how “inheritance, property, paternity, divorce, adoption and so on” are dealt with by society.

It’s the fact that the act of teaching that homosexual behavior is normal, that those relationships happen and that there is nothing wrong with them, is what he’s upset about. He’s upset that children are being taught that this lifestyle is acceptable, and that can really only mean that he finds the lifestyle unacceptable, and I think that absolutely qualifies him as a homophobe.

It’s not a question of if the artist working on the piece of art you’re interested in buying shares the same or similar political beliefs as you, it’s that he finds an entire group of the human population unacceptable, and that they should not have the same rights as the rest of us.

Of course, if you couldn’t care less about gay rights, it’s perfectly acceptable not to buy ULTIMATE IRON MAN simply because it’s shit.

Card should get in touch with Chuck Dixon, who’s been sounding hysterical over the 2008 election a lot lately.

Gay comic fans cross the line into Nazi territory if they try to force Marvel to fire Card because he is against gay marriage.

Then how about because Card has called publicly for (some of) those same gay comic fans to be jailed to make the rest fearful of being themselves in public?

if you don’t like a creator’s work or beliefs, then DON’T buy his comics.

That’s exactly the point of this brouhaha, a lot of gay and gay friendly readers don’t know about Card’s columns or the degree of venom found in the language he uses. (Trust me, every time I write about this I encounter people who are appalled for the first time.) His columns need to be discussed so that people who don’t want their money going to someone who says such hateful things (and before you say “hateful” is a reactionary word, go and read his columns) can make an informed decision.

But then bringing those columns up for discussion is censorship, isn’t it?

Thought police? He can think what he wants, but some things you just shouldn’t say because it allows people to see what a moron you are.

And yeah. Like another poster said, regardless of what you think of Card (I find him rather annoying), its still perfectly okay not to buy his stuff because its complete shite.

I think some people here are missing that political differences, and the hatred of people because of their sexuality, are two completely different things. Hate should not be deemed acceptable by simply sweeping it under the ‘Political differences’ rug.

Just because you have free speech doesn’t mean what you say is right or have any legitimacy, nor does it mean it should be listened to.

Someone who is against gay marriage is against a persons human rights. This stance is no different than saying a white guy can’t marry a black girl.

I refuse to buy something that puts money in the pocket of someone that promotes hate and taking human rights away from anyone. Times like these I’m even more glad to be Canadian

Well, it’s kind of a shame. Diversity is a good thing and bigots are part of that diversity, and often the stories they have to tell are interesting and good. Sure Card’s bigotry informs his storytelling and impacts readers. But any writer has a point of view and force feeds it to an audience, and all points of view are WRONG (because they are never ever YOUR point of view). The problem isn’t Card, it’s a lack of enough diversity in storytelling that Marvel can’t have an openly Gay character and not kill them or rewrite them as ’straight’. Card is a scapegoat if anything.