Once again, there’s a political group taking aim at video games. This time it’s Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council taking aim at Star Wars: The Old Republic over their decision to allow people to have gay relationships in the game thanks to an upcoming update. As you might expect from a political action group with the word “Family” in the title (usually a code word for “we hate the gays”), this doesn’t sit well with them. And FRC’s fearless leader Tony Perkins has taken to the radio airwaves to denounce this decision thusly:
“In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I’m Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it’s launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that “gay” and “lesbian” don’t exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren’t. On the game’s website, there are more than 300 pages of comments–a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It’s time to show companies who the Force is really with!”
Ok, I’m going to be very frank with you. My opinion on this matter, or any of these anti-gay diatribes is pretty much, “Who gives a crap? Get a life, loser.” As a parent myself, I can assure you that this group and it’s fanatical devotion to anti-gay rhetoric does not speak for me. It’s fair to say that the country slowly is moving away from a time when these sorts of discriminatory points of view are the least bit acceptable. And it’s simply not right to force gay people to live their lives in the shadows because the more closed-minded folks out there don’t know how to cope with things that have nothing at all to do with them.
Unfortunately, major news organisations tend to take groups like the Family Research Council far too seriously for the times we live in, giving them a public platform from which to spew their hateful points of view. It’s akin to giving members of the Klu Klux Klan equal time, when most reasonable people seem to have realized that “those people” are crazy and shouldn’t be asked for their opinions.
Ironically, it should be pointed out that in this game players have the option to be evil. And all players will cut through wave after wave of people (possibly thousands of them) in their quest to get to the level cap. Apparently though, this is less offensive to the Family Research Council than the fact that people can choose to play as a gay character.
Also, word of advice, Tony – your radio spot isn’t as clever as you think it is. You see, in Star Wars, the Empire are the bad guys. So if homosexuals are “the biggest threat to the Empire,” doesn’t that make them the good guys? Think it through next time. Or find a Star Wars fan to explain it all to you. Whatever.
