While the statement is a clear attempt to distance the film from the beliefs of its creator, out of the mouth of the creator himself, it's not clear whether it will be enough. Even if you forgive the author for arguing that gay rights as an issue "did not exist" in 1984 (it did), and for giving a whistle to the notion that he and other anti-gay activists might be victimized by the Supreme Court's decision on DOMA, his history on the issue goes deeper. Orson Scott Card, after all, still wrote a version of Hamlet in which the eponymous character's father was a gay, as a way of explaining why he was a terrible king (Card also made Hamlet's father into a child molester). And he still sat on the board of the National Organization for Marriage.

On the other hand, Ender's Game is a well-known and beloved book, even by some who know from whence it came. We'll have to wait until November, the film's scheduled release, to find out.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.