Contents:
FOR PRI MONTH, WE CELEBRATE STAR TREK’S GAYT MOMENTS
Although creator Gene Rodnberry promised to troduce a gay character back 1991, took a quarter-century for his pledge to be fulfilled. Star Trek: Disvery now boasts three gay crewmembers (played by Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cz and Tig Notaro) among the regular st, so why is Seven of Ne’s sexualy so important to fans?
’ In the end, the bt Taylor uld do was clu a uple of brief gay moments one of her licensed Trek novels. Arguably, such a y approach me periloly close to “queerbag” – teasg an LGBT dience wh the prospect of an onscreen same-sex relatnship, while refg to actually pict one for fear of alienatg heterosexual days, the ba don’t always end a swch, but savvy producers still e the prospect of a gay character as a way to attract dienc. It has been five years sce Kev Feige promised a gay hero the Marvel Cematic Universe and so far none has materialised (unls their superpower is plete visibily).
The Simpsons, meanwhile, took 16 years to reveal that Marge’s sister Patty was a years the closet: Hika Sulu (Gee Takei) had to wa until a 2016 film to be revealed as gay. When JK Rowlg let slip 2007 that Harry Potter’s headmaster, Alb Dumbledore, was gay, a mere three months after the fal book the seri was published, many rears felt was a shame she hadn’t mentned earlier. And when the wrers of the reboot movie Star Trek Beyond announced 2016 that the anchise’s first gay character would be a reimaged Hika Sulu, Gee Takei, the proment LGBT activist who had origated the character 50 years earlier, lled the move “unfortunate”, feelg suggted he had been livg the closet for half a fact, Sulu’s “gay moment” Beyond – puttg his arm around another man as he is rned wh his dghter – was so brief that had not been highlighted the film’s prs mpaign fans might easily have blked and missed .