Sulu Is Gay In 'Star Trek Beyond,' Makg Franchise History | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY
• FROM GHOSTBTERS TO STAR TREK BEYOND: GAY CHARACTERS ARE THERE, BUT ONLY JT
• THE SURPRISG CONTROVERSY BEHD THE NEW GAY "STAR TREK" CHARACTER
• GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE

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.

FROM GHOSTBTERS TO STAR TREK BEYOND: GAY CHARACTERS ARE THERE, BUT ONLY JT

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. 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.

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. We want to see well-round gay, lbian and bisexual characters who have more gog on than their sexualy.

THE SURPRISG CONTROVERSY BEHD THE NEW GAY "STAR TREK" CHARACTER

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. 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. Although creator Gene Rodnberry promised to troduce a gay character back 1991, took a quarter-century for his pledge to be fulfilled.

GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE

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 . Siarly, the much-touted gay storyle the most recent Star Wars movie, Rise of the Skywalker, turned out to be a momentary clch between two background characters.