Superman is a symbol of hope and freedom. Which is why I am horrified at DC Comics’ decision to have known homophobe Orson Scott Card pen Adventures of Superman.
Card, author of Ender’s Game, is on the board of The National Organization for Marriage, a group called out by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010 for its anti-gay policies and propganda. Orson Scott Card has gone as far as rewriting Hamlet to link homosexuallity with pedeophilia (no, seriously). He wrote that if Prop 8 failed in California, he would “act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage….” And DC decided to pay him to write Superman. Maybe they can overlook his bigotry because he’s a New York Times bestseller, but I can not.
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Siegel and Shuster were left-leaning minorities and the hero they created fought for social causes and against villains, super or everyday. Which makes Card writing Superman all the more unacceptable. It is disrespectful to the character, and, more importantly, to the fans. DC is allowing a man who puts out false information about LGBT people for the specific purpose of depriving them rights to put his poisonous spin on the character that is supposed to be the shining beacon of righteousness.
Maybe they misunderstand what “big, blue boyscout” means?
