For Pri Month, We Celebrate Star Trek’s Gayt Moments –

Contents:

• ‘STAR TREK’ GETS ITS FIRST LGBTQ CHARACTER: SULU IS REVEALED TO BE GAY
• FOR PRI MONTH, WE CELEBRATE STAR TREK’S GAYT MOMENTS

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

And as if that wasn't queer enough, Q then go on to tnt Jean-Luc about his relatnship wh Marta, the implitn beg that Q don't 's no wonr then that The Advote, even back 1995, cid to qutn Patrick Stewart about the possibily of Q beg queer — or "gay" as they put (terview reproduced here and here). " The Advote then went one step further wh this theory by suggtg that, "If Q is the eed nature of Pird, and Q might be gay, is there some possibily Pird is reprsg homoerotic parts of himself?

Even Patrick Stewart himself was well aware of the homoerotic unrton of his character's relatnship wh Q, even if Pird didn't necsarily reciprote — or outright adm — those feelgs the same way that Q always be fair, was the '90s, so any homoeroticism to be found this iendship was forced to rema implic regardls.

In an earlier 1991 issue of The Advote (via The Salon), Gene Rodnberry was quoted as sayg, "In the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generatn, viewers will see more of shipboard life some episos, which will clu gay crew members day-to-day circumstanc. It was also a shame to Patrick Stewart as well, as far back as 1995 when he lamented the fact that no gay people uld see themselv on a show that's supposed to reprent a future utopia: "I thk gay people would probably feel dismayed, " Patrick told The Advote. 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).

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

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?

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. 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). In a letter to The Advote, Rodnberry wrote that " the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generatn, viewers will see more of shipboard life some episos, which will, among other thgs, clu gay crew members day-to-day circumstanc. Dpe the oddns of a metaphor for gay rights that volv what is ostensibly a heteronormative uple at the center, Soren’s story is still the clost that ‘90s Star Trek ever me to addrsg issu and them specific to the LGBT rights movement, particularly the ia of nversn therapy.