Culture

Milk screenwriter says boycott of Enders Game movie over homophobia is ‘a waste of energy’

Jul 15 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

The screenwriter of the Academy Award winning Harvey Milk Biopic, Milk, has called those pushing for a boycott of the Enders Game movie because of homophobia on the part of novellist Orson Scott Card, “misguided”.

An online campaign is urging moviegoers to boycott the upcoming release of “Ender’s Game,” a big-budget Hollywood movie based on the work of a notoriously anti-gay novelist, who last year described same-sex attraction as a “reproductive dysfunction”.

Dustin Lance Black, who was the writer behind the Harvey Milk biopic, said the call for boycott was “a waste of our collective energy”, as, he said, a large proportion of the people working on the movie were LGBT friendly.

“There’s so much good to be done right now,” Black wrote on his Facebook page over the weekend, reports the Guardian.

“Boycotting a movie made by 99% LGBT equality folks in an LGBT equality industry is a waste of our collective energy. Making one phone call to a relative in the south who isn’t quite there yet would be 1,000 times more effective.” He continued “The homophobic novelist who wrote the book hasn’t been involved in decades. Misguided boycott.”

Card already responded to calls to boycott the film following accusations of homophobia, to ask for “tolerance” from proponents of equal marriage.

Lionsgate responded on Saturday, saying it has a longstanding commitment to the LGBT community, and that although it does not agree with Card’s personal opinions they are not linked to the book or the film.

The proponents of the boycott then replied to reject Card’s call for tolerance.

Black has in the past made his own accusations of homophobia, as in 2011, he accused the Australian edition of GQ magazine of homophobia. Writing on his blog, the openly gay star said the publication was guilty of outdated “lies, myths and stereotypes” about gay people.