There’s been a lot of chatter lately about self-proclaimed “Christians” using their religion to discriminate against gay people.
Two weeks ago, Indiana Governor Mike Pence saw his political future go up in smoke after receiving nationwide backlash for signing a draconian “religious freedom” bill granting businesses the legal right to discriminate against gay people. As a result, one message was made crystal clear: Bigotry and homophobia are no longer acceptable in America.
As suburban housewives across the country gear up for The Longest Ride, the latest Nicholas Sparks film about pretty white heterosexual people falling in love, when it’s released this Friday, it’s an excellent time to revisit some of Mr. Sparks’ past comments about gay people:
In a 2004 interview with Christianity Today Sparks told a reporter: “I have certain moral parameters that I do not cross in writing. I don’t write about adultery or kids having premarital sex…I do not use profanity in my novels. My characters all go to church. My characters have drawn great strength from church.” He stopped just short of saying he doesn’t write about gay people. Until six years later when…
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In a 2010 interview with Movieline.com, Sparks was asked if he would ever write a gay love story and he replied: “It’s a different genre. I don’t know that I could do that…Asking that kind of question is like asking, ‘Could you do a love story with more of a thriller element like The Bourne Identity?'”
Huh?
Sparks echoed this sentiment again in an interview with Hollywood.com in February 2013. When again asked if he would ever consider writing a gay love story, he replied that it’s “not exactly in my genre,” adding “with the novels, I try to give the people what they expect,” which, for Sparks, means cliche love stories featuring white, middle class heterosexuals living in the South.
Though he tries not to talk about politics in interviews, Sparks is a registered Republican who quietly donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina. While in office, Dole voted yes to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Last year, Sparks was sued by the former headmaster of his Christian prep school, the Epiphany School, which the author founded in 2006, for allegedly brewing “a veritable cauldron of bigotry,” that included demanding the headmaster, who Sparks called a “bastard” and a “liar,” stop trying to “make homosexuality open and accepted” by “lecturing people on tolerance, diversity, non-discrimination.” He also axed plans for a proposed gay-straight alliance, saying it “obviously can’t happen.”
The Longest Ride opens in theaters across America on April 10.
Related stories:
Crappy Romance Novelist Nicholas Sparks Sued For Brewing “A Veritable Cauldron Of Bigotry”
Don’t Expect A Gay Romance Novel From Nicholas Sparks Anytime Soon
Rich Young
Nah!
Nick Matranga
No
Richard Drew
Hmm kind of grasping here – he’s not exactly an advocate but if this is the best evidence you have of Sparks being antigay it’s not very strong
1EqualityUSA
Go away!
Liam Barnes
Couldn’t care less, I simply have no interest in the movie in of itself.
DuMaurier
It looks like a Lifetime channel movie, and I generally don’t even watch those for free, so…probably not going. If I did it would be mostly for that charming Scott Eastwood, but in the far more likely even I do not, it won’t be because of the guy who wrote a novel they based a screenplay on.
Giancarlo85
The movie will stay in theaters a while, flop and then end up in the bargain bin at WalMart. Ask me why I should care about this loser?
DonW
@Richard Drew: Agreed. I have no interest in the movie to begin with, but if you’re telling me I need to boycott it because the writer wouldn’t agree to write a gay love story when prodded by an interviewer, I’d say I have bigger fish to fry.
Cam
@Richard Drew:
The article didn’t make it very clear, but Sparks started, funds, and owns the fundamentalist Christian school and is being sued because he fired the headmaster for teaching tolerance.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/nicholas-sparks-lawsuit.html
joseph
To ‘HELL’ with him, not going……..
moonman157
Yeah, I don’t see the homophobia here. As the author acknowledged (and pretty much everyone knows), Sparks’s books all follow pretty much the exact same formula. He doesn’t deviate, and let’s recognize that writing a gay romance novel (or any kind of gay book) requires a sensitivity and understanding that a lot of heterosexual people just don’t understand. Gay relationships have dynamics and facets to them that heterosexual relationships do not. Heck, I would probably find it more objectionable if he DID write a gay romance novel, because it would probably be terrible and he would almost certainly be writing strictly based on assumptions about gay people. There certainly needs to be more diversity in literature, but I think that responsibility falls on publishers, not on individual authors.
avesraggiana
I’d go just to ogle Scott Eastwood.
IzzyLuna
All of his comments are completely legit about the subject not being his genre. They say write what you know. He doesn’t know about gay stuff…so why should he write it? Jeez…chill out Queerty.
Cam
@IzzyLuna:
Again, the article doesn’t make it clear, but he owns the fundamentalist Christian prep school and is being sued for firing the headmaster for teaching tolerance towards LGBTs
4of14
So! When will Mr. Sparks be coming out, or be pushed out of the closet? Me thinks, he doest protest too much.
T-Wicked Iris Morgue
NOT HAPPENING!!!!
twospirit
I’ve been a fan of Nicholas Sparks’ novels for a long time, though this info does shed a different light on him in my eyes. I always thought of him to be an open-minded and progressive guy…hmmm…we’ll see if the above comments do show his “true colors”, or if this may be an over-exaggeration on our media’s part…
Meowzer
I find the photo of him sitting in his white trousers with his legs spread wide quite interesting. He must be tucked very well.
Celtic
So, another fag hater. Good for you, Sparks. I hope your film bombs. We need fewer people like you in this evolving world. You are not even worthy of the attention you have been given in this piece.
anthonyz
I really don’t care what stance he takes of gay love stories because I won’t buy a book or see the movie anyway. His writing genre is straight love stories that contain a lot of dribble for a specific audience of mostly women. I read one book many years ago and could not fathom why I would want to read another be it gay or straight.
Hillers
Dude’s got a serious case of gay face. We’ll just bide our time until the male call boy scandal rears its deliciously ugly head.
billeetee
TWINNNNKEEEEEE! Of course I won’t go see the movie. Besides, I grew up in Texas and roamed Montana, Utah, Wyoming, etc. in Rodeo Times as a ‘road musician’. I can tell you for sure that most of the Rodeo Circuit is as gay and closeted as any group can be. UNLESS, you ‘lasso em, get’em drunk, and then watch those legs go up in the air!
calabrazy55
Grasping for straws here. Just because he is a Christian writer does not make him antigay. Could a gay novelist write an Amish fiction book?
Cam
@calabrazy55:
One More time, the article doesn’t make it clear, but he owns the fundamentalist Christian prep school and is being sued for firing the headmaster for teaching tolerance towards LGBTs
Mark Holbert
Me either
mujerado
@Cam: I think you’ve made your point.
Cam
@mujerado:
You claim I made my point, but then in a post right after that you pretend that Sparks has never said or done anything Homophobic. If you want to defend what the guy did fine, but why lie about or try to hide the full story?
misterhollywood
I did not know some of these things about Sparks but I do wonder if Alan Alda and Scott Eastwood would participate in a movie with someone who was tagged as being so called “anti-gay?”
jjose712
His novels are crap and curiously are crap for all the reasons he is so proud of
jjose712
@calabrazy55: Of course. The sexual orientation or the race of the writer is not relevant for the novel.
People tend to write about what they find interesting (or in cases like Sparks or Grisham, what they think it sells).
Some of the biggest novels about women are written by men.
I remember reading an article about the search of the next big gay novel, and they cited some of the most aclaimed by the critics novels with gay characters and some of them (Meg Wolitzer’s The interestings or Chad Harbach’s the art of fielding) are written by straight writers.
In fact the tendency is to coral novels, novels with several main characters, and it’s quite easy to find gay and straight characters in them (to name a gay writer, Christos Tsiolkas’ the slap is a good example)
Giovanni’s room characters are white but James Baldwin was black. You don’t need to share that much with your characters to write a good novel.
Anyway, i understand him not wanting to write a gay romance (is not a different genre but it’s something different for him) but the problem is that in his novels gays just don’t exist. He has no gay secondary characters (no need to write a romance for them).
Anyway, that doesn’t mean he is homophobic. He doesn’t want to create good literature, that means challenge, that means not writing the same story again and again, that means go outside your comfort zone and write about something you find challenging.
The strong morals of his characters make them not interesting because a character set in stone, it’s a character that has no life, too unidimensional to be interesting
Saint Law
@Cam: I commend your patience.
Srsly. There are some obtuse numpties on this thread.
Saint Law
He sounds like a talentless hack. Which is perfect punishment for his being such an obnoxious human being.
Ogre Magi
Who would want to see that redneck crap any way?
Arconcyyon
No not dont´s no antigay ! More is two number film story sucesss cine ticket money ! He his mem name they Nicholas Sparkes very luxury beautiflyy party menbrens future family love love hasband´s mem darllyn´s ! my love look ups love .
IanHunter
The only movie that I have watched based on his book is The Notebook. The only reason I would want to see this movie is Scott Eastwood. I wonder if he knows that The Notebook has a gay following because of Ryan. I do not care about his books at all. I just wonder how he is getting every book made into the same type of movie. I think that he just writes the same Romcom over and over because it does sell. If he has something against homosexuality, just let him know that he is definitely contributing to the male fantasies with his lead actors.
Celtic
@IanHunter: Scott Eastwood actually came out recently in support of gay marriage. As for Sparks, I can care less. I have a sense about him, and it is a negative sense based on his history of negative bias.
David Andrew Roubideaux
I already know this is gonna be such a cheesy love story. I wouldn’t watch this movie. It’ll be on my last to do list. :)’s
Scott Moninger
Why would anyone want a gay love story from a hack writer like Sparks???
Joseph Watkins
Keegan MacNeil-Kettle
Geeker
He has the male equivalent of crazy eyes.
Low Country Boy
@Scott Moninger: Thank you! I have never read one of his hack novels, nor have I ever seen one of the shitty adaptations made from his movies. The only thing good to come from this movie will be screen caps of Scott Eastwood.
Ryan Hall
Never heard of him
VampDC
Nicholas Sparks is awesome.
montimo
I am concerned that we, the gay community, are becoming more and more like the Christian right wing. In the same way that they don’t accept anyone that thinks exactly as they, is wrong, we seem to be leaning in the same direction. As a gay man, I do not ask everyone to think or act as I do. We only need to be asking the world to accept that the way I believe is different than the way you believe, but we can still live in peace.
I don’t expect every movie or tv show to include a gay character, especially when that character is going to be a stereotype. When the character adds an important part to the essence of the story, please include him. But, to add a gay character for the sole purpose of appeasing the gay community is insulting and condescending.
I just hope that cinema and tv all work together to show life as it is in the new world. We are a force, but let’s not stoop to the level of the Christian right and insist that the whole world must see life as we see it. We do not want to appear as ignorant as they appear!!!
SFHarry
@Cam: What you’re saying does show homophobia but you must admit that the Queerty article starts off with such poor examples of homophobia that by the time you get to the real deal most people will be thinking it’s all a bunch of crap.
A shorter article with just the info you are providing would have done the trick.
1EqualityUSA
Geeker said, “He has the male equivalent of crazy eyes.” TOTALLY! His name sounds made up too. Sparks, my ass! What a wad.
Charlie Gainey
He’s GAY
Captain Obvious
Maybe if the movie was starring another guy dating a gay bull rider but it’s not so why should I care?
prettygirl1973
Christians are not “self proclaimed”, we are saved by a holy God who CONDEMNS homosexuality as an abomination. Real Christians DON’T support homosexuality. Nicholas Sparks isn’t gay because he cares more about pleasing God than the gay community. It’s you all who are wrong. GOD said being gay is a sin so if you don’t like it take it up with Him. Your lifestyle is wrong and none of you want to admit it. God’s commandments are right.
You take your hatred of Him out on his people and attempt to bully us into a quiet corner hoping we’ll be too ashamed to stand against you because we choose to follow His commandments. Well we’re NOT afraid of you or your supporters. We’re not shamed for following God’s commandments. God commandments are nothing to be ashamed of or to repent for. We WON”T BOW to you. We WON’T support you in your sin and our God will see to it that WE’RE NEVER DEFEATED.
I’m not ashamed for following God’s commandments. I’m not afraid to stand against your evildoing. Nicholas Sparks isn’t gay because he refused to join your amoral cult. Some people are hetero. Get over it.
Celtic
Ah, yes, yet another self-righteous purveyor of hatred. Gotta love how you fornicate with the Faith in order stand high your podium of self-righteous indignation. You are a “Christian” in name only; not in your actions. And your words are direct slap in the face of Jesus Christ. YOU are the hypocrite, the stone thrower that Jesus tells His followers to watch out for. You are the seed of Satan. Just listen to your vile.
prettygirl1973
Christians should love gay people. But loving you and supporting you in your sin is two different things that have nothing to do with each other. I will never do the latter. If you want to spot a fake Christian, look on Twitter and see which ones of them DO support your “cause.” I can’t knowingly see my brother about to drink cyanide and hand him a straw instead of warning him. How is THAT love?
Celtic
@prettygirl1973: Oh, my! The heretic strikes once again. How about this one: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Oh, oh, let me see. Since you, at least by your name, presume you do not fall under that instruction. And from WHOM was it given. JESUS. Yeah. You get the prize for being one huge self-righteous sicko. You are the very type that has caused so many good — good — Christians to go silent in their faith. Hate. Hate. Hate. Look at me. Look at me. I — I — am the good Christian. No, actually you are not. You are hollow of all things Jesus. Take a hike, you phony.