Openly Gay Trek Character

Stumbled across this article completely by accident, but it was an interesting little read even if it is several years old... I think any new series would be ready for a gay character!

http://trekmovie.com/2008/04/10/fuller-gay-characters-considered-for-voyaer/

P.S. Lt. Hawk was sorta cute... shame he got assimilated. :(

The article speaks to a problem with introducing gay characters into the series well, and Kate Mulgrew's suggestion solves it. If a gay character is introduced to the series, it needs to be one of the main cast characters. This would prevent the characters from being two-dimensional and ensure that they had a number of other traits other than just being 'the gay one'.

I don't know if it needs to be the captain (I'd prefer an alien captain, but I doubt that's a surprise to anyone on this board :P ), but it definitely needs to be at least one of the senior officers.

Quote by chemkarate

I don't know if it needs to be the captain (I'd prefer an alien captain, but I doubt that's a surprise to anyone on this board :P ), but it definitely needs to be at least one of the senior officers.

I disagree that the gay character should be alien. That's one of the ways that they've sold our community short is with the too subtle alien allegories, such as the Janai, Dax's affair with her old wife, and the Vulcan mind meld AIDS allegory with t'Pol. No more hiding behind the sci if to show gay characters. Just show a gay characater.

I think what he meant was that the next captain should be an alien (not necessarily a gay alien), which I don't think it should only because what makes star trek generally appealing as a sic-fi narrative is that it chronicles the "human experience"... but I digress.

I do think that one of the main cast (like a Malcom Reed-type character) needs to be gay cause otherwise it would just be shameless 2-D pandering. Guess that rules out an near-term feature. Oh well, guess it just has to be us!! lol

Yeah, captain.brenden got what I meant. A gay alien would be a bad idea just for the reason Jerran said: it would be them side-stepping it.

well initially I agreed in my mind that a gay character should not be an alien b/c that would be a cop-out.
However I then considered a Vulcan Captain, someone who would be logical, but not stereotypical. As in he may not follow Starfleet procedure as it would be illogical to do so under certain circumstances.

Now if this Vulcan Captain were gay, may he not be able to explain (logically) that the feeling of Love simply exists?

And in this Infinite Universe surely this emotion can attach itself to anyone? even a member of the same sex?

And that loving a member of the same sex does not change the fundamental nature of Love?

And that if Love is fundamental, a natural emotion if you will-innate to most lifeforms. Should it not be embraced? Should a person not deny this emotion, but learn to accept it in all its complexity and glory?

anyway thats how my train of thought went (in a nutshell). Anyone have any thoughts?

There was an episode in TNG where Riker fell for a member of an androgynous species that believed that any expression of gender was a perversion. Riker's feelings were reciprocated, but the alien was later forced into "reparative therapy." They chose an actress for the role, but Jonathan Frakes went on record stating that he would have preferred a male for the episode, as it would've driven the point home better.

My frustration with Frakes is that he could have done what Shatner did. When they were filming the famous kiss with Uhuru/Nichols, the plan was to film an alternate end to the scene for Southern markets, in which Kirk leans in for the kiss but never actually kisses her. However, Shatner ruined those plans, because every time they tried to film the alternate scene, he would cross his eyes or make a face or some such, so that they were forced to scrap their plans for two separate versions. The interracial kiss ended up showing in all markets.

My ideal lineup: a Pansexual joined Trill Captain (actually, for how they had to play her on network TV, Jadzia Dax was a pansexual in many ways - remember Captain Boday(sp?) - with the transparent cranium?), a straight or bi female first officer, and a very strong science/ops second officer who's just a little shy and keeps getting caught staring at the Captain's spots! Not that I have a thing for Trill Spots. Why were there never any really hot male Trill in the series? Really? I want to see how far those spots go down!

:::takes breath::::

Yeah, that would be cool. Seriously, though, if they create a gay character, it would have to be a Bridge Officer (or Engineer, or otherwise main character.) I could see a gay captain, but I could also see a gay counselor, engineer, tactical officer, etc. As long as the character is three-dimentional, I'd be at least mostly happy. However, I think that if the Star Trek Universe were real, more people would be bisexual or pansexual than 20th Century gay-straight dynamics. In fact, I think sleeping with a member of an entirely different species would be seen as more kinky than just someone of the same gender.

Quote by ColoradoMJ

Yeah, that would be cool. Seriously, though, if they create a gay character, it would have to be a Bridge Officer (or Engineer, or otherwise main character.) I could see a gay captain, but I could also see a gay counselor, engineer, tactical officer, etc. As long as the character is three-dimentional, I'd be at least mostly happy. However, I think that if the Star Trek Universe were real, more people would be bisexual or pansexual than 20th Century gay-straight dynamics. In fact, I think sleeping with a member of an entirely different species would be seen as more kinky than just someone of the same gender.

Hmmm, I don't think there would be more bi/pansexual people. Just more people comfortable with their own sexuality. Just as it is now, there are people who just prefer the opposite sex. The only difference that would occur is that people won't get weirded out if they are hit on someone of the same sex.

What I have always found interesting that they were okay with promoting interspecies relationships (Worf/Troi, Worf/Dax, Rom/Leeta, Dax/Bashir), but when they did the whole lesbian kiss on DS9 it was a huge deal and shocking. Lol, you would think that people who think that marraige is only to produce children that they would have an issue with Worf and Dax getting married since they could not have children without advanced technology.

I think what ColoradoMJ meant (BTW, hi from up Boulder way!) is that, in a culture that had fewer prohibitions and prejudices against alternate sexualities, more people would naturally be open about their own genetic tendencies or preferences for something other than mono-racial, mixed-gender pairings.

One need only look at some of our embarrassing and embarrassed political and religious leaders to see there are currently people who, in a more accepting society, might not have felt pressured into a traditional male-female marriage.

Dang, I just realized how pseudo-intellectual that all sounded. Sorry. Hope you understand what I was driving at. Cheers!

Quote by hedara90

Hmmm, I don't think there would be more bi/pansexual people. Just more people comfortable with their own sexuality. Just as it is now, there are people who just prefer the opposite sex. The only difference that would occur is that people won't get weirded out if they are hit on someone of the same sex.

I liked the way Bones touched on this; there's an episode where a gorgeous FedEx girl keeps bringing packages, and two male characters (Hodgins and Zack) start competing for her attentions. The decide to both try to accept the next package, and whoever she has sign, that's an indication of her favor.. One of the female techs (Angela) comes along to mock, and the delivery girl ends up handing the clipboard to.. Angela, who replies "oh, thanks. *notices fedex girl's checking her out* *grins* ....thanks."

Later on, Angela returns to dating her old flame from college, a woman. It was all done as very matter-of-fact, and kind of charming.

Hmmm gay character in Trek... Im kinda on the fence bout this(excuse the pun) Im sure Trek and the people of the world are ready for something like this, but im a little put off of it for various reasons.

1)Is it necessary? Black crewman, Female Captain, Gay Crewman/Captain, all well and good... But does it really need to happen? Diversity is great, but it has to flow naturally, make sense to the stories and be done in a way that makes people say "Hey, thats a great character!" NOT "Hey thats a great GAY character" It becomes almost like a catch to hook people into trek insted of showing that all types of people are out there in space exploring!

2)Can a gay character on Trek be played well by an actor? Would it become cliche? would there be those horrible romance stories done specifically to call out the fact of, hey He's gay you know? Those little things that we see in eachother that make our gaydar go off, would they still be there in the 24th century? I have flash forward to Will and Grace in Space :S

Quote by Jadedromeo

Hmmm gay character in Trek... Im kinda on the fence bout this(excuse the pun) Im sure Trek and the people of the world are ready for something like this, but im a little put off of it for various reasons.

I agree here. To me, the best gay characters are those that we love for dozens of other reasons and we eventually learn that they're gay/bi/etc.

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