Harrison Ford is defending Ender ‘s Game after controversy over author Orson Scott Card’s views on homosexuality and gay marriage.
A group called Geeks Out launched a boycott against Ender’s Game and asked that fans “not buy a ticket at the theater, do not purchase the DVD, do not watch it on-demand.” The group has “Skip Ender’s Game ” events scheduled in New York, Seattle, and Chicago.
In 2004, Card wrote an essay saying that “many homosexuals first entered into that world through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse.” In another essay four years later, Card wrote that he saw any government that would try to recognize gay marriage as a “mortal enemy.” He wrote, “If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.”
Card became a member of the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that campaigns against gay marriage, in 2009, but resigned sometime this year. The 62-year-old has also referred to homosexuality as a “tragic genetic mixup.”
Harrison Ford, who plays Colonel Graff in the upcoming film adaption of the 1985 sci-fi novel, told The Guardian that Card’s views on homosexuality have nothing to do with the movie’s content.
“This movie doesn’t address any of those issues,” the 71-year-old said. “It was written 28 years ago; it’s a very impressive act of imagination that he could predict the internet, and that he could predict drone warfare… There is nothing in the film or the book addressing his current dispositions, or prejudices. We care about the positive aspects of the story we are telling.”
Director Gavin Hood said that he and Card do not hold the same views about gay marriage, and that he struggled with whether or not he should direct the film.
“It’s well known Orson Scott Card and I have different views on the issue of gay marriage and gay rights,” he said. “It has been a real dilemma for me: I love the book Ender’s Game, it’s all about tolerance and compassion, and understanding the other.”
Hood added:
“Should I not have made the film because of his views? I wrestled with that, and you know what? I thought: if I don’t put these ideas out on screen we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We are having this conversation precisely because the themes of the book are at odds with his current ideas.”
Ender’s Game is scheduled to be released November 1.
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