Why weren't there gay characters on "Star Trek"?

[terrya]

Ok, it would have been unrealistic to expect Roddenberry to write a gay character on the original series.

But why not on the later series? Or the films?

Just a weirdly curious question.

Thanks,
T

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. there were questions

bout that blonde chick that died in TNG

[DrWeird]

2. Why do you think they had to force Kirk to kiss Uhura?

:shrug:

[TroubleMan]

3. I always thought Data and the guy with the funny glasses were gay.

The guy who Lavar Burton played....I forgot his name.


They spent A LOT of time on the engineering deck together.
{Zap & Roger's "Computer Love" plays in the background}

[Joe Power]

4. Did you miss the episode where...

...Kirk and Bones were trapped on the planet Felch and thought they were going to die?

[Brundle_Fly]

5. one word

Barkley.

[Deja Q]

6. I resemble that character!

Barclay.

And all the happier for it, I do hate being typical. :7

[Harry S Truman]

10. yeah, but...

remember when Reg was on the holodeck in that fantasy world with Deanna Troi???? I'll bet he was straight. Gay? Maybe Picard? Admiral Nechayev? Nomad probe?

[sleipnir]

7. George Bush the 4th eliminated homosexuality by eugenics in 2097

Um, oh wait, that's a parallel universe, and we seem to be heading straight for it. Please, we need a time-space rift so we can escape this world and fix things in the future. Enough of Bush and his future tactics to eliminate gays in society.

[Xithras]

8. Actually, there were two

DS9, in the alternate universe episodes. The alternate Ezri was a lesbian and alternate Kira was bi.

I don't know if you want to count it, but there was even an episode where Dax had a pretty passionate kiss with the wife of one of her former hosts. People debate whether that was a "Gay" kiss though, because her feelings for the wife were established in a previous life when she was a man.

You have to remember that putting openly gay characters on TV has only been "acceptable" for the past decade or so, and that prior to Roseanne Barr adding a pair of lesbians to her show as regulars, gays were almost completely unseen on TV except as the occasional child molester, dying AIDS victim, or criminal.

Really, the only two Trek series' created since putting gays on TV became "acceptable" have been DS9 and Enterprise. DS9 did break some ground with the kisses I listed above, and the Enterprise writers are still saying that they'll get gay characters into the series at some point. As I understand it, there actually was a lot of discussion about making the Malcolm Reed character gay, but the guy who plays him asked them not to do it. He had apparently just come off another series where he played a bi man and was worried about being typecast as a gay actor. The producers wanted the guy for the role, so they gave in and wrote out the characters homosexuality. Unfortunatly the only bridge character on Enterprise who's sexuality isn't established is Hoshi, so she's really the only remaining possibility unless they add someone else to the crew.

As to the NG movies, keep in mind that they all revolve around the same set of characters and that their sexuality was established long before anyone even thought about putting gays on TV. They might have thrown in a gay redshirt or two, but how symbolic would that have been?

[sans qualia]

9. Dude, there weren't even any bathrooms in Star Trek

So clearly, future humans lack genitals.

[Xithras]

13. Sure there were

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual the bridge bathroom door is tucked in next to the port turbolift door.

[BrainRants]

11. Wesley Crusher came close.

(Sorry kid, ya bothered me)

on edit: But his mom was a definite MILF!

[Wat_Tyler]

12. There is a pro-gay rights Doctor Who storyline.

The Happiness Patrol, from 1988. It's a satire on Thatcherism and the suppresion of overt-homosexuality in British society. The Thatcher character, Helen A runs a society where people are punished for being anything other than obviously happy. The most persecuted are forced to where a pink triangle badge, are victims of entrapment, and are punished for displaying any deviancy.

Of course, Doctor Who's producer John Nathan Turner was a flamboyant, openly gay man, so there was often a hint of subculture and difference to the show.

More info on The Happiness Patrol here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/happinesspatrol/analysis.shtml

On edit - thinking about it, Tom Baker as Doctor Who is basically Oscar Wilde in space.

[rug]

14. What do you think Spock was for the other 6 years?

[Magrittes Pipe]

15. Uh... Terry?

They were ALL gay.

Those uniforms were WAY too tight for straight men to wear. ;)

[terrya]

16. Well, there is that to consider. :-)

I just realized...I think Captain Janeway on "ST:V" seemed to prefer the company of women. At least to me. :-)

[TheMightyFavog]

18. I seem to recall that Janeway was married.

She kept a picture of her husband in her ready room.

[amazona]

17. TOS was very gay friendly

From the first time I sat down to watch the original series as a 6th grader I immediately noticed the sexual tension between Kirk and Spock. Yes, for official reason, the powers-that-be had to deny what was going on, but any kid with eyes in her head knew that Kirk was a campy raging bisexual who'd get it on with anyone any time be he she or it space alien or human -- and that Spock was the sad repressed soul who only dreamed of having him in an exclusive sense.

What more do you want for 1969?

When I was old enough to participate in fandom and learned that the official position was that K/S was ridiculous, I was stunned. The show was little less gay than "Batman" and a lot more, er, stimulating...but, er, no sex threads, so perhaps I'd better not go any further with this.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[TheMightyFavog]

19. That reminds me...

Of a bit I heard on Dr. Demento in the mid 90s where somone had put together a whole bunch of TOS clips and made it sound like Kirk, Spock, and Scotty were having a threesome.