February 13, 2013 | Arts / Entertainment

Superman stories to be penned by outspoken homophobe

Many gay men and lesbians are angry that DC Comics is allowing a vocal homophobe to write stories for its popular Superman franchise.

Orson Scott Card is a sci-fi writer who is best known for his novel Ender's Game. However, he is also an outspoken critic of gay rights. He has served as a board member of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, claimed that gay marriage would end civilization as we know it, and has called for recriminalizing homosexuality.

Unhappy that such a hateful person would even be allowed to write for DC, a group has started a petition demanding he be fired. 

"By hiring Orson Scott Card despite his anti-gay efforts you are giving him a new platform and supporting his hate," the group behind the petition explained.

DC Comics, however, is not prepared to back down. “As content creators we steadfastly support freedom of expression, however the personal views of individuals associated with DC Comics are just that — personal views — and not those of the company itself.”

The company added that Card would only be working on the digital Adventures of Superman comic, along with many other authors. The actual comic series would not be touched. 

Of course, DC Comics has been relatively supportive of the LGBT community in recent years; Batwoman is a lesbian, the Teen Titan character Bunker is gay, and there is a new intersex hero named Shining Knight.

Still, we wonder if DC would have hired an outspoken white supremacist as long as his "personal views" did not affect his work. 

DC Comics under fire for hiring anti-gay writer to pen Superman [The Guardian]

DC Comics Responds to Backlash Over Hiring Antigay Writer [The Advocate]