'Star Trek Beyond' Outs Franchise's First Gay Character | Digal Trends

Contents:

• SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ BRGS GAY CHARACTER ONBOARD
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY
• FOR PRI MONTH, WE CELEBRATE STAR TREK’S GAYT MOMENTS
• GEE TAKEI LLS 'STAR TREK BEYOND' GAY SULU SCENE 'A WHISPER'
• GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE
• THE SURPRISG CONTROVERSY BEHD THE NEW GAY "STAR TREK" CHARACTER
• JOHN CHO’S SULU IS OFFICIALLY STAR TREK’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER
• 'STAR TREK BEYOND' PAYS HOMAGE TO TAKEI WH FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER
• ‘STAR TREK’ GETS ITS FIRST LGBTQ CHARACTER: SULU IS REVEALED TO BE GAY
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’: GEE TAKEI REACTS TO ‘UNFORTUNATE’ NEWS OF GAY CHARACTER
• GEE TAKEI REACTS TO GAY SULU NEWS: “I THK IT’S REALLY UNFORTUNATE”

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

“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 BEYOND’ BRGS GAY CHARACTER ONBOARD

UPDATE: After news of this story broke, Takei lled the cisn to pict Sulu as a gay man “really unfortunate” a Hollywood Reporter terview.

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.

‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY

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.

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.

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

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. 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. ” 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.

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

Boldly gog where the seri hasn't gone Sulu will be openly gay Star Trek Beyond, the actor playg the character, John Cho, revealed a recent terview. Takei is openly gay real life and began playg Sulu the origal 1960's Star Trek noted that Beyond won't make a major pot of highlightg this new revelatn about Sulu's life.

"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, " Cho said to the Herald Trek has not prevly featured openly gay characters s many TV and film rnatns. Abrams, who helmed the 2009 reh of the anchise, said a 2011 terview that he would "brg up" the ia of troducg an openly gay character to his wrers while planng 2013's Star Trek Into Darkns after beg qutned about the lack of such characters the anchise.

GAY 'STAR TREK' CHARACTER PROVOK POLARIZG RPONSE

The newt edn to the Star Trek anchise is boldly takg a gay character where no gay character has gone before … the Starship Enterprise. Takei, a gay man and arguably one of the most regnizable actors om the origal, is beg honored by those creative ntrol of the film for all his work wh the Star Trek and LGBT muny by givg his former character a current same-sex partner. In a tribute to his ongog legacy as an in of the Star Trek anchise, wrer Simon Pegg and director Jt L cid make Sulu nonilly gay the upg movie.

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

While Hollywood still has a long way to go terms of queer reprentatn, feels appropriate for Star Trek to be the first big sci-fi anchise to clu a gay character s ma st. More than halfway through Pri Month, the LBGT+ staff here at TrekMovie thought the perfect time to brg a ltle gayns to your life.

JOHN CHO’S SULU IS OFFICIALLY STAR TREK’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER

While you uld argue that this isn’t a gay Trek moment ( lerally isn’t—that’s the pot of the scene), ’s still a msage about the general acceptance of LGBT+ people the 24th century.

While Dax was already one of the most socially liberal characters Star Trek, ’s still a nice feelg to see someone assumed to be gay get treated like a normal person. In realy, we’re jt as discerng as straight or gay folks—’s jt that genr don’t terme whether or not we are attracted to someone.

And, as we’ve monstrated here, there have been clearly LGBT+ characters Trek before, but that don’t tract om the importance of this moment, this small blk-and-you-miss- moment between Sulu, his hband, and their dghter that means fally, ’s official: Star Trek has a gay character! Sulu’s brief fatherly moment Star Trek Beyond may have been the first stance of an openly gay character on Trek, but there is no nyg that Jadzia Dax was the first openly LGBT+ (emphasis on the pl) character on Star Trek. Ined, Dax’s entire existence uld fill this sectn, but we’ll also highlight a uple of key “gay” Dax moments throughout Deep Space Ne.

'STAR TREK BEYOND' PAYS HOMAGE TO TAKEI WH FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER

In the end, this episo is basilly Star Trek acknowledgg that self wasn’t ready to be open to gay characters, when Beverly adms that her unwillgns to nsir ntug a relatnship after her boyiend transned is her own failg. Comg at the number one top gayt moment Star Trek uldn’t be anythg except for the relatnship between Hugh Culber and Pl Stamets.

Takei has said publicly he is agast the ia of Sulu beg gay, and he had plenty to say about here at the 50th anniversary Star Trek nventn Las Vegas. " Takei says he has agreed to disagree on the issue of gay Sulu wh the movie's -wrer Simon Pegg, wh whom he has exchanged emails. 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.

‘STAR TREK’ GETS ITS FIRST LGBTQ CHARACTER: SULU IS REVEALED TO BE GAY

”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. 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.

We uld have troduced a new gay character but he or she would have been primarily fed by their sexualy, seen as the 'gay character, ' rather than simply for who they are and isn't that tokenism? Also, the dience would fer that there has been an LGBT prence the Trek Universe om the begng (at least the Kelv timele), that a gay hero isn't somethg new or strange.

‘STAR TREK BEYOND’: GEE TAKEI REACTS TO ‘UNFORTUNATE’ NEWS OF GAY CHARACTER

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).

GEE TAKEI REACTS TO GAY SULU NEWS: “I THK IT’S REALLY UNFORTUNATE”

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.

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?