'Star Trek' Introduc Its First Gay Couple to the Universe

Contents:

• SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY
• STAR TREK’S FIRST GAY COUPLE THAT WASN’T
• WHY STAR TREK BEYOND COULDN’T SIMPLY SHOW A GAY COUPLE BEG GAY
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY
• STAR TREK INTRODUC ITS FIRST GAY COUPLE TO THE UNIVERSE
• LONGTIME CHARACTER REVEALED TO BE GAY 2016’S “STAR TREK BEYOND” CROSSWORD CLUE
• FOR PRI MONTH, WE CELEBRATE STAR TREK’S GAYT MOMENTS

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

In 1991, Gene Rodnberry ma a statement on his plans to clu gay characters Star Trek: The Next Generatn, but followg his ath shortly afterwards, the productn team were slow to follow up on his promis. Throughout the 1990s, fans were engaged letter-wrg mpaigns askg for gay characters, some of which were endorsed by actors appearg the anchise, but the rponse om Paramount was at bt dismissive and at worst outright hostile. The episo gets plenty wrong – nflatg havg no genr wh asexualy, g a character who is sentially transgenr as a metaphor for gay people whout really realizg that was what they were dog, and assumg that androgyno people would tomatilly wear drab clothg and have bad haircuts (a quick Google Imag search of “nonbary style” will show you how far off the mark that is).

The ill-fated AIDS-allegory episo Blood And Fire, wrten by David Gerrold, would have featured actual human gay characters, but was shot down at the script stage. Deep Space Ne did do a ltle better than s sister shows terms of sual background queerns – Jadzia isn’t thrown by the ia of gay Ferengi, Bashir and O’Brien happily plan a baby shower for a pregnant male lleague, several characters the Mirror Universe are queer – but they missed jt as many opportuni as The Next Generatn and Voyager. Litenant Hawk, a mor on-screen character Star Trek: First Contact, was wrten as a gay man, but referenc to were removed om later versns of the script.

STAR TREK’S FIRST GAY COUPLE THAT WASN’T

Jeri Taylor’s Pathways, which explor the life stori of the crew of Voyager, featur a background gay uple and a gay Starfleet Amy roommate for Harry Kim.

WHY STAR TREK BEYOND COULDN’T SIMPLY SHOW A GAY COUPLE BEG GAY

The Starfleet Corps of Engeers novels feature a gay uple, and the DS9 relnch books feature a lbian uple.

One gay ma character would have been phg the envelope for The Next Generatn, but now, well to the twenty-first century and wh queer characters creasgly visible film and televisn (egreg mortaly rat notwhstandg), if Star Trek wants to mata s reputatn of beg ahead of the curve on social issu, needs to do better than that. Fans are hopeful that Bryan Fuller, the shownner of the new Star Trek seri set to land early 2017, who is gay himself, unrstands that and is ready to explore the full range of possibili. We don’t jt want one gay character.

‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY

We want to see well-round gay, lbian and bisexual characters who have more gog on than their sexualy. One of the “Star Trek” universe’s most beloved characters is revealed to be gay the latt stallment of the inic anchise. “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.

STAR TREK INTRODUC ITS FIRST GAY COUPLE TO THE UNIVERSE

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. So why did DS9’s producers ci to take such a huge risk wh a gay uple on their new show?

LONGTIME CHARACTER REVEALED TO BE GAY 2016’S “STAR TREK BEYOND” CROSSWORD CLUE

Creator Gene Rodnberry promised that there would be gay characters, and wrer David Gerrold even wrote a script to fulfill that promise for TNG’s first season. They axed the script wh two gay men; when Gene proposed showg same-sex upl the background, they told a wrer to ignore him.

Years later, shownner and wrer Ira Steven Behr would exprs remorse at their failure to plumb those pths, and said that he wished they’d had Garak e out as gay so they uld have explored the relatnship further. Even better, brought some long-overdue LGBTQIA reprentatn to the Trek universe by makg Kelv Universe Hika Sulu gay and givg him a hband.

FOR PRI MONTH, WE CELEBRATE STAR TREK’S GAYT MOMENTS

**SPOILER ALERT IF YOU WANT TO GO INTO THE FILM COMPLETELY UNSULLIED** Lately, there seems to be a lot of yns around beg gay large film anchis. It’s disappotg to know that Hollywood studs (who have plenty of LGBTQIA people workg all up and down them mo-fos) still feel so squeamish about actually showg gay people beg openly affectnate.

If televisn n manage to not be squeamish about two gay characters showg affectn toward each other, you sure as hell have no reason to! We now know that the Kelv Universe versn of Hika Sulu is gay. But you n’t see gay the way you n see race or genr or physil abily.