If you’ve been following BGPS for the last week, you’ll know that the gay group Geeks Out is planning a boycott of the upcoming sci-fi film Ender’s Game, due to the homophobic sentiments and work of the author of the book it’s based on, Orson Scott Card.
The boycott call led to responses from Card, who called for tolerance, and the studio behind the film, Lionsgate, who laid out their LGBT-friendly reputation, said the film and Card are completely separate and promised to hold a gay benefit screening of the film.
However Geeks Out has now responded and rejected Lionsgate’s arguments, saying the problem was never with the film itself or the company that made it, it’s due to the fact it could make Card millions of dollars, which he could then use to fight against gay rights.
They say, ‘The simple fact is that Skip Ender’s Game has never been about the content of the novel or the film Ender’s Game. It’s about money. It’s about the money the company has already paid to Card and the potential millions he and the National Organization for Marriage stand to make off of the success of the film—our money.
‘A benefit premiere, indeed any outreach to the LGBT community by Lionsgate, ought to be much appreciated. What’s clear is that whether or not they support his views, Lionsgate is standing by their man and their would-be blockbuster. They made the common, perhaps cynical, calculation that audiences wouldn’t connect Ender’s Game with Card’s very public homophobia—or wouldn’t care. Geeks OUT appreciates that most American families work for every dollar and care deeply about where that money goes and what it supports.
‘Skip Ender’s Game is not a threat; it is a reality. Our pledge adds hundreds of signatures every day from sci-fi fans around the world who would rather stay home than support homophobia. We have only just started and Geeks OUT and its allies are prepared to carry on past November 1. Nothing Card nor Lionsgate has said changes the fact that skipping Ender’s Game is the easiest way to ensure none of your dollars go to Orson Scott Card’s and the National Organization for Marriage’s extreme anti-gay agenda.’
There have also been reports that Card has quietly left the board of the virulently anti-gay National Organization For Marriage. That’s yet to be confirmed, although with Orson last week suggesting they’d lost the gay marriage debate, may turn out to be true.
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