Comments on: Orson Scott Card Joins NOM Board

By: Swiftboating Same-Sex Marriage in Maine | Dirigo Blue | Maine's Source for Progressive Political News

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:38:37 +0000

[...] Plante, Executive Director of NOM’s Rhode Island chapter, in which Plante dismissed statements by NOM board member Orson Scott Card who called for the overthrow of civil government if Prop 8 failed in California. According to an [...]

By: Utah’s Deseret News Takes Final Steps to End Run as Mainstream Newspaper | GLAADBlog.org

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:36:13 +0000

[...] at “The Mormon Times” is anti-gay science fiction novelist Orson Scott Card. Mr. Card also serves on NOM’s board. He has written scathingly anti-gay columns, one even calling for government overthrow if gay [...]

By: Utah’s Deseret News Takes Final Steps to End Run as Mainstream Newspaper | Gay China official website | for gay Chinese and Asian

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:45:29 +0000

By: Utah’s Deseret News Takes Final Steps to End Run as Mainstream Newspaper | GayLGBT.com

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:30:40 +0000

By: William Muraskin

William Muraskin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:06:05 +0000

I would like to thank all those who have written on this blog. I find them helpful in dealing with the problem of what to do one’s love of Orson Scott Card books. I had read the Ender series years ago and just re-read Ender’s Game with great pleasure despite the passage of 25 year! It came as a great shock to hear of the author’s extreme anti-gay views. I heard of his position right after I had purchased 5 of his books for my kindle. I immediately called Kindle and asked for them to take them off my machine and refund my money and I was gratified when they in fact did so. I will not give him any money now or in the future to fund his intolerant political activity. I must admit that I still love his work and am very tempted to buy his books second hand – so that I don’t support him but still have access to books I love. However, the prospect does leave me somewhat guilt ridden. Can I read his work knowing what kind of repellent human being he is? On the one hand I loved Agatha Christie when I was a kid and simply ignored that she was an anti-semite (though it hurt me to know that an author I loved hated me). But so many great authors have hated the Jews I didn’t see much choice except to ignore it. The same is true about homophobes. Most Americans are homophobic – though toleration and even acceptance is growing – slowly. But to make the situation more complex (and worse) I was told that Orson Scott Card was doing more than simply speaking out and joining crazy anti-gay organizations. He was also funding “research” into the causes of homosexuality for the express purpose of “preventing” the birth of homosexuals. If true (and I have not been able so far to confirm it) that is Nazi-style behavior and genocidal in intent and goes beyond simple every day homophobia. If true, can I still read the man’s work without cringing? Would I read good sci fi by Hitler?
P.S. I am an historian but was trained as a psycho-analyst and I must admit that someone as obsessed with gay people as OSC does raise the suspicion that he wants to suppress (or kill off) gay people in order to kill the gay part of himself.

By: The Religious Right is Swiftboating Same Sex Marriage in Maine | Main Street Plaza

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:09:27 +0000

[...] Executive Director of NOM’s Rhode Island chapter, in which Plante dismissed statements by NOM board member Orson Scott Card who called for the overthrow of civil government if Prop 8 failed in California. According to an [...]

By: Laughing Bunny

Laughing Bunny — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:45:09 +0000

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments.

I was raised mormon, and OSC books were widely praised as works of genius by my community.

Perhaps my expectations were just too high, but after reading Ender’s Game and one other in the Alvin Maker series, I couldn’t bring myself to enter his fantasy worlds again.

Particularly in Ender’s Game as OSC goes to extravagant lengths to explain why his main character is innocent of genocide and murder (of another boy) and excuses abusive and deceitful behavior by the authority figures as “necessary for training”. The ends justify the means, was my take away impression of the meta-moral of this story.

Of the Alvin Maker book I have to agree with a previous poster that there was an oily, “unctuous” feel of self-justification and an odd, almost masochistic satisfaction in the persecution of his main character.

I don’t doubt that OSC believes himself to be “an exemplary citizen and loving father and husband.” As an ex-mormon, I saw that most of the lay people do their best to be good citizens and neighbors. As an ex-mormon I also have to say that this institution has HUGE issues with human sexuality. There is good reason Utah leads the nation in anti-depressant drug use.

By: Walt

Walt — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:38:07 +0000

If the posters here are former fans of Card and have some of his books, what you can do is sell them at a garage sale, ebay or whatever, then donate that money to the People for the American Way, the Serviceman’s Legal Defense Network or other worthy gay friendly organizations – this could have two benefits: 1. Keeps Card from getting the royalties from those books that otherwise may have been sold and 2. The money goes to help fund Gay friendly organization. Sales from Card’s books to help fund organizations that support gay causes – irony?

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:47:52 +0000

I am a gay sci-fi fan, and I am NO FRIEND of Orson Scott Card. I unfortunately only learned of his beliefs very recently, but I will no longer purchase or read his books, comic adaptations of his work, or attend a film adaptation.

He most certainly is NOT a “beacon of common sense”. He absolutely IS a radical fundamentalist. I cannot see how a presumably intelligent, educated person can continue to swallow the lies of religion in the 21st century. I am offended that he regurgitates those lies with such abandon, hatred, and intolerance.

It is Card who needs to “choose to stop the hate speech”, and he who needs to open himself to what is alien to him. This is true for everyone who has succumbed to delusion of religion. The truth is I know nothing about the nature of the universe or the will of it’s creator, AND NEITHER DO YOU. It’s time religious people admitted this, and come down off their high horses and share the planet with the rest of us.

Slavery was once a tradition. Segregation. The disempowerment of women. If those who think that gay marriage will somehow weaken the tradition of heterosexually priviledged marriage as a whole continue with their archaic, obsolete, elitist, isolationist, patriarchal, supernatural and mythological mindset, they are going to be left behind.

By: We Need More Cards

We Need More Cards — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:10:11 +0000

Orson Scott Card, and all Christians, for that matter, are not anti-gay. They are pro-Marriage. There is a significant difference.

I know Orson Scott Card personally and he is a compassionate man, which his novels prove beyond question. He is not a closet homosexual, but a loving husband and father. He is an exemplary citizen, who stands up for moral values and voices his opinion even when it is not politically correct.

It is shameful to disparage a man whose concern is strengthening his family and shoring up fading values in our nation. He loves his gay friends, but at the same time he doesn’t believe we should weaken marriage or change millennia of tradition for an alternative route that shows little scientific evidence of strengthening our communities and nation. His articles are a beacon of common sense, not radical fundamentalism.

Let’s choose to stop the hate speech and try to understand those with different opinions. As Card’s books illustrate beautifully, when we open ourselves to what at first seems disgusting and alien, we learn and grow in ways we never thought possible.