Dpe beg known as a lear terms of genr and racial tegratn, wasn't until 2017 that the first openly gay characters were troduced a Star Trek televisn show. We talk to curator Margaret Weekamp about Star Trek's history wh LGBTQ+ stori and characters.
Contents:
- STAR TREK’S FIRST GAY COUPLE THAT WASN’T
- FIRST OPENLY GAY STAR TREK TV CHARACTER REVEALED
- WAS LT. HAWK STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT ORIGALLY GOG TO BE GAY?
STAR TREK’S FIRST GAY COUPLE THAT WASN’T
* first gay star trek character *
“My attu toward homosexualy has changed, ” he told The Humanist 1991.
FIRST OPENLY GAY STAR TREK TV CHARACTER REVEALED
I have, over many years, changed my attu about gay men and women. Even after his ath, took another 28 years for the first gay character to appear Star Trek’s televisn seri (although y, novel tie-s, ics, fan works, and other non-nonil media featured a markedly improved number of LGBT Starfleet officers).
Given that the first openly gay recurrg character on televisn wouldn’t appear until the edy Soap 1977 (and played by Billy Crystal, so not exactly a nuanced character portrayal), pictg one the ‘60s when Star Trek first aired would have been unthkable to most people. Of urse, much of what Star Trek did to highlight actors and characters of different ethnic backgrounds would have been pretty far-fetched for many televisn dienc of the time, too – so what ma gay stori different at the time?
But still others were spired – enough that Kirk and Spock’s endurg nnectn to one another has remaed a potent symbol of homosexual love for Trek fans. Durg a 20th anniversary nventn 1986, show creator Gene Rodnberry was asked by a foundg member of a Boston LGBT science fictn group (lled, charmgly, the Gaylaxian Network) whether or not the recently announced The Next Generatn would troduce gay characters to Starfleet. We should probably have a gay character.
WAS LT. HAWK STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT ORIGALLY GOG TO BE GAY?
That same year, Gerrold (who’s bt known for wrg the TOS episo “The Trouble Wh Tribbl”) began workg on a script which revolved around two gay characters beg afflicted by an curable, tergalactic blood disease that mirrored the spread of HIV. Dpe this, Rodnberry still seemed mted to makg good on his promise to the Gaylaxians, who by 1990 had begun a letter-wrg petn (spurred partly by Gerrold’s stori of his episo’s mise at var nventn appearanc). In a letter to The Advote, Rodnberry wrote that " the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generatn, viewers will see more of shipboard life some episos, which will, among other thgs, clu gay crew members day-to-day circumstanc.
Dpe the oddns of a metaphor for gay rights that volv what is ostensibly a heteronormative uple at the center, Soren’s story is still the clost that ‘90s Star Trek ever me to addrsg issu and them specific to the LGBT rights movement, particularly the ia of nversn therapy. The Natnal Associatn for Rearch & Therapy of Homosexualy, an anizatn that still promot this harmful practice, was found that same year 1992. I mean, he was clearly gay or queer or however you want to say .
Acrdg to fan mors, early drafts of the screenplay for Star Trek: First Contact ma some mentn of a mor character, Litenant Hawk, beg gay, which was quickly nied by producer Rick Berman (a supposed first draft that surfaced onle refers to Hawk as a naive young Ensign, not a Litenant). While Voyager never explicly featured a gay character, there were certaly behd-the-scene nversatns about dog so.