A few months ago I read this essay written by Orson Scott Card on his thoughts about gay marriage. It was such a disappointment to discover that a writer I like so much holds such an intolerant, narrow-minded opinion.

In the first place, no law in any state in the United States now or ever has forbidden homosexuals to marry. The law has never asked that a man prove his heterosexuality in order to marry a woman, or a woman hers in order to marry a man.

Any homosexual man who can persuade a woman to take him as her husband can avail himself of all the rights of husbandhood under the law. And, in fact, many homosexual men have done precisely that, without any legal prejudice at all.

... So it is a flat lie to say that homosexuals are deprived of any civil right pertaining to marriage. To get those civil rights, all homosexuals have to do is find someone of the opposite sex willing to join them in marriage.

How can you argue that allowing homosexuals to legally marry would detract from the sanctity of marriage and destroy the stable, loving household that is so important to civilization, and instead suggest that they marry some woman they feel nothing for, merely for the civil benefits? I'm sure any children borne of that marriage would be far better off than an adopted child raised by a loving gay couple.

The dark secret of homosexual society — the one that dares not speak its name — is how many homosexuals first entered into that world through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse, and how many of them yearn to get out of the homosexual community and live normally.

Now that is just ridiculous. I can't even think how to comment rationally on such a claim. It's true that many of the gay people I've known through the years have fervently wished they weren't gay, but it was not because they were sickened by their perversion, but rather because they experienced such discrimination and oppression from society. I don't see how anyone can suggest that someone would actually choose to take on a lifestyle that they could be absolutely sure they would be tormented and terrorized for.

What I find ironic is that Card seems to be making the very mistake that the characters of his books always make. The Ender series is largely about the violence caused by humans' inability to understand what they perceive as The Enemy — the Buggers in Ender's Game are depicted as this overwhelming, irreconcilable threat which will bring an end to our way of life. Ender leads a slaughter of them, only to encounter their Queen and learn that they are sentient and do not have hostile intentions. The entire misguided war against the Buggers was driven by a fear of the unknown.