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:
- 6 STAR TREK ACTORS YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE GAY IN REAL LIFE!
- WHICH ACTORS OM STAR TREK ARE GAY?
- 'STAR TREK: DISVERY' STARS OPEN UP ABOUT GROUNDBREAKG GAY ROMANCE
- GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE
- STAR TREK: DISVERY STS 3 ACTORS, ADDS GAY CHARACTER
6 STAR TREK ACTORS YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE GAY IN REAL LIFE!
* which star trek actors are gay *
Together, they play the science fictn anchise’s first regularly appearg gay uple aboard the U. And of urse, they'll be fans who say, ‘”Oh, they’re killg off the gays aga!
WHICH ACTORS OM STAR TREK ARE GAY?
Ennis: As a pneer Star Trek, terms of beg an out gay man, playg a gay character, a relatnship wh another man, do you see that the unfoldg of havg non-bary characters like Adira and a trans character, even a ghostly versn, how do that make you feel terms of the craft and and our muny? Disvery, which premiered September of 2017, is notable for beg the first Star Trek seri to feature openly and explicly gay ma characters played by LGBTQ+ actors, like Pl Stamets (played by Anthony Rapp), Dr.
“My attu toward homosexualy has changed, ” he told The Humanist 1991. 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).
'STAR TREK: DISVERY' STARS OPEN UP ABOUT GROUNDBREAKG GAY ROMANCE
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.
GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE
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.
STAR TREK: DISVERY STS 3 ACTORS, ADDS GAY CHARACTER
We should probably have a gay character. 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).