system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I don't think whether someone is a bigot or racist should affect my decision to buy something from them.  CMV.

This came up when a friend and I were discussing whether Orson Scott Card's homophobic agenda should affect my recommendations of his books to friends.  

My rationale was that supporting a bigot makes people more bigoted about as much as legalizing gay marriage makes people more gay.  Furthermore, I don't understand how learning something about an author can somehow change the enjoyment you got from their book years ago.  

Yet, I can't shake the feeling my friend is possibly right. It just worries me to condemn a person for a single aspect of their life.
gpt
It depends on what the thing is. It's a much easier decision to make when it comes to commodities. 

For a really simplistic example, let's say you need a new wrench. You can buy it from KKK Tools Inc, or Home Depot. If you buy it from KKK Tools Inc, some portion of your money is almost certainly going to go to catering the next klan meeting. If Home Depot has the same wrench for the same price, the decision is easy. It's not that you will become more racist by buying the wrench from KKK Tools Inc, but you will be spending your money in a way that runs counter to your beliefs. If the wrench is slightly more expensive, it's still worth it to many people to pay a premium not to support racism. If enough people stand by their views, KKK Tools Inc will go out of business and the KKK will be deprived of that revenue. Since that's in general what people want, they'll buy the wrench at Home Depot. Pretty straightforward, yes?

Orson Scott Card tithes to the Mormon church, which spends massive amounts of money on political advertising campaigns to ban gay marriage. It's also likely that OSC personally donates to such campaigns. When you buy one of his books, some of your money is going to harm the rights of gay people. You know this for certain.

But his books are not a commodity. There are other sci-fi books, but there is no other Ender's Game. If you refuse to buy it you're paying a premium not in money, but in lost quality, to avoid sending your money to someone who is going to use it for causes you oppose. 

At which point, it's up to you. Are his books sufficiently good that it's worth it to you to compromise your ideals slightly to get them? Do you have to give them up entirely so that you aren't supporting him at all? Or would you rather buy them used and donate the savings to your local gay charity?