Has Star Trek's Sulu Always Been Gay? It's Complited

Contents:

• SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY
• GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE
• HAS STAR TREK'S SULU ALWAYS BEEN GAY? IT'S COMPLITED
• GEE TAKEI LLS 'STAR TREK BEYOND' GAY SULU SCENE 'A WHISPER'
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY

SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY

If you’re an avid Star Trek fan, you might’ve heard this qutn before: Star Trek’s kda gay, right? Whether they were gay or not, they had an openns to their inti that ma a signifint impact durg a time when queer people openly protted agast unlawful opprsn and tradnal genr rol. Even Gene Rodnberry himself planned to add a gay character to TNG’s ma st the show’s fifth season.

In the 2016 film, Star Trek Beyond, Hika Sulu was revealed as the first openly gay Trek character, wh a hband and dghter.

In Star Trek: Disvery, Emperor Geu is pansexual, Pl Stamets and Hugh Culber are an fluential gay uple nng the engeerg and medil partments, and Michael Burnham ( name and character) is seen by many queer fans as very genr-fluid, even if she she/her pronouns. However, this is not somethg that is unique to Star Trek: Disvery, even if that is the first seri to pict openly gay characters. There is an argument that may not be valid, though Gene Rodnberry himself said that before he died, he had planned to troduce gay characters.

GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE

On Thursday, the Herald Sun announced that the character Hika Sulu will be revealed to be gay Star Trek Beyond, which hs theaters July 22. Gee Takei, who played Sulu the origal show and who has been a proment LGBT activist sce g out as gay jt over a ago, told the Hollywood Reporter that he has been agast revealg the character as gay sce he first heard was unr nsiratn last year. “I’m lighted that there’s a gay character, ” Takei told THR.

He believed ma more sense to create a new character who has always been gay, rather than brgg Sulu out of a prumed closet. ” But he also exprsed a ncern, which he discsed wh L and -wrer Doug Jung, that a new gay character may have been perceived by the dience as a token gay character, “primarily fed by their sexualy.

HAS STAR TREK'S SULU ALWAYS BEEN GAY? IT'S COMPLITED

” Pegg believ Rodnberry’s cisn not to velop a gay character earlier was a product of his time, not of his visn. ” Based on the movie’s timele, the cisn to make Sulu gay do not necsate his havg been the closet, Pegg explas, and prum that there has been an LGBT prence sce the begng of the anchise’s universe. One of the “Star Trek” universe’s most beloved characters is revealed to be gay the latt stallment of the inic anchise.

GEE TAKEI LLS 'STAR TREK BEYOND' GAY SULU SCENE 'A WHISPER'

“I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thg out , which is where I hope we are gog as a speci, to not policize one’s personal orientatns, ” he and Pegg’s cisn to pict Sulu as a gay man was a nod to Gee Takei, who played the role the origal 1960s “Star Trek” televisn seri and six subsequent films, Cho said. Takei, 79, me out as gay 2005, and has sce gone on to bee an outspoken advote for LGBT rights.

UPDATE: After news of this story broke, Takei lled the cisn to pict Sulu as a gay man “really unfortunate” a Hollywood Reporter terview. Takei, who me out publicly as gay 2005 and has been an outspoken proponent of LGBT rights for s, told the Hollywood Reporter that while he is "lighted that there’s a gay character, " the alteratn of Sulu's sexual inty is a "twistg of ['Star Trek' creator Gene Rodnberry's] creatn, to which he put so much thought. ”Related: Gee Takei Says Portrayg Sulu as Gay Is a 'Twistg' of 'Star Trek' CharacterRodnberry ma a groundbreakg se for diversy wh his stg choic for the origal "Star Trek" seri back the 1960s, makg a nsc choice to wre non-stereotypil rol for an Ain-Amerin (Lt.

"And actor Zachary Quto, who is openly gay and has portrayed Spock the last three "Star Trek" films, cludg this one, has said he is "disappoted by the fact that Gee was disappoted. When some viewers tected some supprsed sexual tensn between John Boyega's Fn and Osr Isaac's Poe last year's blockbter "Star Wars" film "The Force Awakens, " they started craftg their own gay iendly fan art and parody vios pictg a full-blown romance featurg the characters.

‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY

Meanwhile, this summer, openly gay "Inpennce Day: Rurrectn" director Roland Emmerich tweaked the portrayal of an eccentric scientist (played by Brent Sper) om the origal 1996 film to now be a part of a LGBT uple, although some have cricized that film for heavily sanizg the romantic aspect of their relatnship. Hika Sulu is now known as the first openly gay character  Star Trek, but the character's sexualy hasn't always been so clear-cut.