John C Wright is a homophobe.

[Touchdown]

x-posted from GLBT forum...

Alleged Science Fiction writer and outright homophobe John C. Wright (but more on him anon) put up a very nasty blog post about SyFy’s commitment to more diversity in future programming, tearing into homosexuals.

When he got some similarly nasty comments, in a snit he deleted them and added even more homophobic bullshit to the post. As the heat got turned up more, and people threatened boycotts of his stuff (which is not a great sacrifice having looked at some of his stuff at Amazon), he took the post down. Now he’s trying to hide and act like it never happened.

Uh, Johnny? The internet doesn’t work that way.

For those who missed it, the full, comment-locked, anti-gay screed has been preserved at http://cnx.com/johncwrightisahomophobicdick.html

I am hoping, of course, that future shows will also portray sadomasochism and bondage in a positive light — we are all looking forward to FLASH GORDON’S TRIP TO GOR, I hope. Love affairs with corpses, small children, and farm animals will also be on display in a natural nonchalant fashion in the new raft of progressive shows, titles such as I DREAM OF STINKY, PEDERASTY JUNCTION, and OLD MACDONALD HAD A SHEEP — but no Mormons, whose moral standing we all abhor. The only good thing about Mormons, as we all know, is their polygamy. That we can approve of. Anything that offends the Patriarchy, we like. Evil is our good.

Why are you willing to tolerate sexual perversion but not racism? In a world with no standards, what makes a malfunction of love higher on your standard than a malfunction of hate? Is an irrational lust and longing to mimic the mating act with a sex with which one cannot mate, at its root, any more or less disconnected to reality than an irrational fear and hatred of a Negro? How do we know race-hate is not genetic? Look at how scorned and put-upon racists are! Can we spare them no cheap Leftist pity? Why don’t we simply call racism an alternate anti-ethnic orientation, similar to hetero-toleration, but different?

In other news, Timothy Leary will be giving Sci-Fi an “F” grade for failing to portray drug abuse positively. Castro and Pol Pot will be giving Sci-Fi an “F” grade for their show BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, which portrays the mass slaughter of innocent human beings in a negative light. Dean Martin will be giving Sci-Fi an “F” for failing to portray drunkenness as life-affirming. Don Juan will be giving Sci-Fi an “F” grade for failing to have a show that portrays serial adultery in a positive light — but Don gives BATTLESTAR GALACTICA an “A” for sleeping with robots. Uncle Screwtape reminds me the any form of sex that is sterile and selfish wins the approval of the Lowerarchy.

Which reminds me. Why are so many in SCi-Fi (fans as well as creators) so adherent to homophobia? When ever I wondered why in the Star Trek Universe there is no such phenomena as gay people, some ST fans make a disgusting comment like "Homosexuality has been cured in the 23rd Century". Roddenberry himself admitted his homophobia was longstanding and pledged to make it right with TNG, but he up and died, handing the reigns to Rick Berman, who allegedly said "No gays on Star Trek, EVER!" Then there's Orson Scott Card(Need I say more?), and I've always wondered about what Heinlein thinks of gays too.

Credit Pab Sungenis for the original post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=221&topic_id=144365&mesg_id=144365

[phantom power]

1. Strange. I wouldn't have guessed.

[Orrex]

2. I don't know anything about this guy, but he must be an idiot

He's criticizing SyFy for diversity programming but not for Basilisk and Mansquito?

Holy moley! I'd happily watch 100 hours of the worst pro-gay programming ever filmed before I sit through ten minutes of Rock Monster.

[Orrex]

3. About the ST:TNG thing

About the only episode to address homosexuality at all--even metaphorically--was The Outcast, and I'm sorry to say that it sucks both as an episode and as a metaphor. The whole framing was forced and obvious IMO, and entirely inconsistent with any characterization of Riker before or since. Props to ST:TNG for making an effort, but it was a poor effort.

In addition to an absence of diversity in TNG, I've read criticisms of the series for negative portrayals of gay stereotypes. Regarding The Most Toys, for example:

At a science fiction convention in 1987 Gene Roddenberry promised that Star Trek: The Next Generation would have gay characters in it. Many gay and gay-friendly fans felt that this was the initial response to this promise and were insulted because Kivas Fajo's effeminate mannerisms, artist friends and eagerness to see Data naked were seen as signs that the first gay character on the series was a stereotypical gay villain.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Toys (I have to disclaim, however, that this is one of my favorite episodes of the series, largely due to Data's crisis of conscience at the end.)

Another target of criticism, though I can't find a citation at the moment, was the "fussy" and "effeminate" behavior of the propulsion expert Kozinsky as portrayed in season one's Where No One Has Gone Before.

Neither character was explicitly identified as gay, but the portrayal of stereotypically "gay mannerisms" is problematic especially in light of the absence of more positive (or even simply honest) representations.

[Sabriel]

4. There was the rather homophobic Beverly Crusher episode

She fell in love with a Trill host who then died, but the new Trill host was a woman, and Crusher couldn't handle the change. Too icky for her.

Maybe the title was "The Host"?

[Orrex]

5. I think you're correct about the title

I haven't seen that episode in many years, but I seem to recall that the "stated" reason for Crusher's rejection was that she couldn't handle the body-change itself, though they didn't explicitly identify the homophobia. But come on! Who are they kidding?!?

It's a shame, really. That would have been a great way to explore the issue of gender identity as it pertains to one's body, as well as to allow a character to confront an internal conflict that's more dramatically interesting than "should I delete that Holodeck program?"

[MrModerate]

6. Who's John C. Wright? Wait! On second thought, who cares?

Too many books out there already.

[MrModerate]

7. Well wait. You've cited Roddenberry (who was at least embarassed by his . . .

antisocial proclivities); Rick Berman, one of about nine million Hollywood producers (a traditionally unprincipled lot); the notorious and execrable Card; and this Wright character. Frankly, that doesn't strike me as "so many."

Heinlein was probably anti-gay (I'm just guessing here -- I haven't read anything about him in that context) but too much of a moral absolutist to admit to anything as defective as prejudice.

In my observation, the science fiction community tends toward a liberal/libertarian cluster of humanity, and probably also tends toward acceptance of variations on purely male-female sexual orientation.

[Touchdown]

8. Point conceded. But it nevertheless begs the question

Where are the gay characters in Sci-Fi?

Where is the Buck Roger's Character who shacks up with Colonel Will Deering, instead of Wilma?
Why was Gaeta's chief personality trait relegated to a webisode, and then executed on TV before that personality trait could be explored?
Why Was Cmdr. Caine's love life with a 6 only revealed in a flashback... on a special movie, where after the betrayal, she didn't play the field for other women when she was on that show for two seasons?
Why is the lone lesbian character on the new Stargate Universe considered a "revolutionary" thing?

As far a literature is concerned, aside from some fanzines/slash fiction and gay-lesbian sci-fi themed books which are in the gay & lesbian sections, not in science fiction. The pickings of glbt characters, or even themes is pretty slim among the shelves of numerous Boris painted pulp covers.

[lazarus]

10. Heinlein wasn't anti-gay, really

At the very least, he was, in many books, pro-bisexuality. Especially in his later books.

[Ysabel]

9. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender SF...

a list here:

http://www.feministsf.org/bibs/lgbt.html

edited to add this site too:

http://www.lambdasf.org/lsf/books/recommend.html