Gay Group's 'Ender's Game' Boycott Goes On

Film distributors Lionsgate hoped that a pro-LGBT benefit would help stop a boycott against Ender's Game, the big-screen adaptation of homophobic author Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel. Lionsgate was wrong.

Geeks OUT, the group behind Skip Ender's Game, released a statement over the weekend in which they say, "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," they wrote in a statement.

Geeks OUT goes on to use the word "cynical" to describe Lionsgate's assumption that Card's anti-gay harangues -- including one in which he said discriminatory laws should stay on the books to "discourage" sinful homosexuality -- would go unnoticed. They also vow to continue their boycott.

"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 signtatures 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."

Will you be joining up and skipping this blockbuster over Card's anti-gay comments?