The HUFFINGTON POST put up an article that has caused a bit of stink among comic collectors and others. The article concerns a writer who is vehemently anti-gay.  Read the article and then I’ll throw in my two cents worth…..

Comic Book Stores Boycott DC Comics Over Anti-Gay ‘Superman’ Author

Comic book fans and store owners are boycotting DC Comics after the company tapped anti-gay writer Orson Scott Card to pen a portion of an upcoming “Superman” story.

Richard Neal, owner of Zeus Comics in Dallas, refuses to stock any issues of the new installment of “Adventures of Superman” because Card is outspokenly anti-gay, the Digital Spy reports.

Neal posted his response to DC Comics’ decision on his Facebook page:

Card sits on the board of the National Organization of Marriage which fights against marriage equality. His essays advocate the destruction of my relationship, that I am born of rape or abuse and that I am equated with pedophilia. These themes appear in his fiction as well. It is shocking DC Comics would hire him to write Superman, a character whose ideals represent all of us. If you replaced the word “homosexuals” in his essays with the words “women” or “jews” he would not be hired. But I’m not sure why its still okay to “have an opinion” about gays? This is about equality.

Towleroad notes that San Francisco’s Whatever… comic book store is also keeping the “Superman” issue off its shelves.

Towleroad notes that San Francisco’s Whatever… comic book store is also keeping the “Superman” issue off its shelves.

“Whatever… will not be carrying the Orson Scott Card issues of Superman when they are released in print,” reads a message posted to Facebook on Tuesday. “We refuse to give money to someone who will then turn around and use that money to fund more anti-gay hatred.”

HuffPost GayVoices previously noted that Card, a Mormon, is an anti-gay advocate who has promoted his ideals about same-sex marriage in writings. He previously was affiliated with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

More than 11,000 people have signed AllOut.org’s petition asking for Card to be given the boot, but not everyone approves of a boycott of DC Comics.

NOM President Brian Brown told Fox News he’s dismayed gay rights activists are trying to destroy the novelist’s career.

“This is completely un-American and it needs to be stopped,” Brown said. “Simply because we stand up for traditional marriage, some people feel like it’s okay to target us for intimidation and punishment.”

Brown, who called the attacks against Card “frightening,” doesn’t think the author should be condemned for his view on marriage, according to Fox News. “Marriage is the union of a man and a woman,” he said. “That is not hateful. That is not bigoted.”

DC Comics is also standing by Card.

In a previous statement obtained by the Advocate, a representative for the company said: “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.”

Okay, I’m back. Look sure it is easy to hate this guy but do you guys not understand this idea of freedom of speech?

You know while I was growing up, this attitude of anti-gay was really prevelent but most of us really had little to say about it; after all, each to their own. At the time this was considered to be a really bad thing and now suddenly…okay well not really suddenly… it is expected that everyone has to be more understanding and most people are. Young people out there sometimes think that they are the ‘tolerant’ ones. Well remember that your parents and others helped make this a more tolerant society, one where we now understand that people who are different from the norm are people as well and should be allowed their differences as long as they do not hurt anyone.

When some idiot like this CARD guy comes along and spouts his crap, try to remember that some of the old biases still exist and most importantly this guy has the right to spout his antiquated ideas. That is freedom of speech. He can say it and you don’t have to listen. If you wish not to buy SUPERMAN COMICS or anything from DC Comics because they hired him that is your right. This is your freedom.

What upsets me so much is that everyone promotes freedom of speech and get really upset when certain other nations don’t allow it but the minute someone says something they don’t like, they suddenly want to shut these self-same freedoms down. This is crap.

These comic stores as trying to suppress this guys freedom to say what he wants and at the same time are suppressing their customers freedom to buy the books they want and are trying to condemn a company who is hiring the guy as a writer not as a promoter of this Orson Card’s ideas.

This guy has a right to promote traditional marriage if he wants and believes in it. He is stating his opinion and can work to promote it. YOU, don’t have to go along with it but he still has the right to say what he says. He is not saying go out and kill gay people; he isn’t saying go out and hurt them he is just saying he thinks this anti-traditional idea of same sex marriage is against his beliefs. They are his ideas so don’t punish DC for it, they are not promoting those ideas. You may not like his stance but maybe he can write a good SUPERMAN story…a story I’ll never see because I dropped all DC COMICS last year when they changed things in their line for the worst….my opinion of course. I just stopped buying them but I have not tried to stop others from not buying them. Believe me I feel that what they did was an insult to all comic readers….still my opinion.

I have read many people state that they hate what he says but they are not going to stop buying DC COMICS because of it, they will just think of him as a scumbag and will tell others their opinion of him. That, of course is their right in a country that believes in freedom of speech.