The History Of LGBTQ+ Representation In 'Star Trek'
Image Source: IGN
Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds both have openly queer cast, crew, and characters -- from Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets on Discovery to Jess Bush as Christine Chapel on Strange New Worlds. With queer actors playing queer characters, all Star Trek fans are finally seeing that there has always been, and always will be, representation for them in Starfleet and space. However, it certainly hasn’t always been this way.
Before Discovery aired, Star Trek typically stuck to ‘read between the lines’ scripts when it came to LGBTQ+ relationships and identities. Shortly after Star Trek: The Next Generation was announced, Gene Roddenberry announced to fans and the production team that he wanted to have more diversity on the new show, notably gay crewmembers. Rick Berman, an executive producer for Next Gen, passed along three pages of story ideas that featured queer characters and storylines to Roddenberry and David Gerrold, who wrote “The Trouble with Tribbles” and other previous episodes for Star Trek: The Original Series.
RELATED:
Image Source: Android Authority
One of the notes Berman made included a plot about the AIDS epidemic. Gerrold wrote a script that almost made it into season one of Next Gen. Dubbed “Blood and Fire,” the episode would have centered around a 24th-century disease resembling AIDS and the surrounding fear of it - not to mention the first gay couple on Star Trek. It was cut before it even saw a final draft, some said by Gene Roddenberry, others pointed fingers at Roddenberry’s lawyer, Leonard Maizlish. Gerrold later adapted “Blood and Fire” as inspiration for his Star Wolf books and then eventually revised the original script and directed it as part of a fan-made film.
Image Source: Cinemablend
A few years later on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there were queer-coded characters (looking at you, Garak) and definite lines drawn between gender and sexuality regarding different alien species. For example, the Trill are humanoids that play host to symbiotes who are a non-binary species. These symbiotes maintain their memories as they pass from one host body to another over time, not being concerned with each Trill’s gender identity. One of the show’s main characters, Jadzia, is one such Trill.
Some queer and trans fans have made Jadzia Dax into something of an icon in recent years. Dax, the symbiote, transfers from one Trill host to another, changing their body and name over time, mirroring the transitions someone may go through as they discover their own identity. One pertinent scene illustrates this well in the episode “Blood Oath,” when a friend from Dax’s past meets Jadzia for the first time and immediately accepts her new identity. A lot of viewers connect this scene to a positive acceptance of transitioning, one that unfortunately not everyone gets to experience.
Image Source: IGN
The first gay couple represented in Star Trek was technically Sulu and his husband, Ben, in Star Trek: Beyond, but it didn’t connect with Sulu’s past storylines, even according to George Takei. On Star Trek: Discovery, Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber was the first gay relationship that viewers were able to connect with. Their marriage sometimes comes into the foreground, and on occasion really sets the stage for major plot developments, but overall, they’re simply two officers in love. A new character in season two, Jett Reno, played by gay comedian Tig Notaro, soon reveals that she is a widow who lost her wife in the war. Later, in season three, Adira is introduced using non-binary pronouns. Their boyfriend, Gray, is played by Ian Alexander, who is the first trans actor to appear on Star Trek.
Image Source: TrekCore
In Star Trek: Picard, viewers saw many classic characters in a new light. As one of these characters, Star Trek: Voyager’s Seven of Nine began a relationship with Raffi Musiker in season two. Jeri Ryan, who plays Seven of Nine, has expressed that she thinks Seven is pansexual. Even though Picard wrapped up with season three last year, viewers hope to see more of these characters soon.
One of the recent animated Star Trek series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, premiered in 2020, shortly after the first season of Picard. One of the main characters so far, Beckett Mariner, is openly queer, even stating in the show that she has dated “men, women, and gender non-binary babes.” There have been hints from the show’s creator, Mike McMahan, that the entirety of the ship’s crew is not intended to be heteronormative.
Image Source: IGN
Strange New Worlds is set before Kirk captains the USS Enterprise, and includes characters formerly on The Original Series, including Christopher Pike, Spock, Christine Chapel, Nyota Uhura, and Jim Kirk. Christine Chapel, bisexual in this iteration of the character, is played by Jess Bush, who describes herself as queer. Celia Rose Gooding, who plays Nyota Uhura, is bisexual and non-binary, using she/her and they/them pronouns.
Melissa Navia who plays a new character, pilot Erica Ortegas, has commented that “gender [fluidity] plays almost inherently a part of me and always has.” There’s also already been one trans guest star, Jesse James Keitel. She played a nonbinary villain named Dr. Aspen, using they/them pronouns, in a season one episode directed by a trans woman, Sydney Freeland.
Image Source: Sideshow
“To the trans and nonbinary queer community, know that there is an entire cast of people who want to do right by y’all and want to represent y’all in a way that is human and true and beautiful and lovely.” -Celia Rose Gooding
READ NEXT:
Latest News
Featured
