Comments on: Listen To George Takei On NPR’s ‘Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!’

By: MDCasey627

MDCasey627 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:28:41 +0000

For a great example of how to reflect the reality of LGBT people in the universe, sfi-fi or otherwise, look to Doctor Who in recent years. Whether it’s the bi relationships of Captain Jack Harkness, the scene in The Waters of Mars when a character shares a story about his brother’s husband back on Earth, or numerous other similar examples, Russell Davies has intregrated LGBT folk by simply allowing us to be open about our lives and loves in the same ways we routinely see and hear straight people do. It’s not about advancing a “message” or the “plot” – it just is.

As much as I love Star Trek, it saddens me that its’ producers have never managed to muster the same courage or subtlety.

By: NCC-73515

NCC-73515 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:04:33 +0000

@ 21 Eli: Homosexuality is not a birth defect, because it is not a desease.
24 has understood the whole thing ;)

By: dwnicolo

dwnicolo — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:31:42 +0000

Good observation # 24.

By: Joel1245

Joel1245 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:20:26 +0000

To #2, uh, yeah, it would be in my face. I’ll pass on that suggestion.

By: JohnWA

JohnWA — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:45:07 +0000

“The audience can’t handle it” is, at least, partially correct.

That is, the Star Trek audience can’t handle it.

We’re talking about a decade where practically every other show on network television – not to mention every HBO and Showtime offering – has dealt with sexual orientation in some way. Far from being controversial, having a character come out has become an all too common sweeps week publicity stunt.

Everybody does it.

So, what makes the Star Trek “audience” different?

Well, I think the answer is fairly obvious to anyone who looks at this issue honestly. It is the same reason why T’Pol, Seven of Nine, and Counselor Troi have to run around the ship in those ridiculous cat suits.

By: Magic_Al

Magic_Al — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:28:06 +0000

^15. Blood and Fire was constrained, as a vehicle to introduce gay characters into Star Trek, by the fact that it’s a continuation of the original series and none of the regular characters are gay. To include homosexuality in a more integral way would require the creation of a Star Trek series with a regular, or at least recurring, character who is gay. Otherwise all that can be done, structurally, is to show gay relationships between guest stars and background characters. The more such detours are played up, the more off-course the show seems because the show is supposed to be about its main characters.

Toward the end of having an integral portrayal, it might have seemed like an obvious opportunity in the new Star Trek movie to retcon the character of Sulu as being gay, but that could have backfired a couple ways. One, saying the character of Sulu should have been gay because George Takei is gay is kind of insulting to what actors do. Two, and worse, the alternate timeline scenario of the movie could have been interpreted as making a statement about nature vs. nurture in gay identity: it would have been saying that different circumstances in the alternate universe somehow made Sulu gay when he was straight in the prime universe. That would be opening a can of worms to say the least.

By: Canon Schmanon

Canon Schmanon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:05:06 +0000

Takei has had to deal with a lot in his career – the prejudice against Asians in American Cinema and Television, and the stigma of having been in a science fiction show during the 60s and the subsequent. These two things alone severely limited his choices in a field he obviously has loved. Pile on being gay in a homophobic world and I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for him.

Bravo, George. You have my respect.

As for the issue of being gay, I want every hetero male in this forum to try an experiment for me. Tomorrow, I want every one of you to become sexually attracted to your best male friend. Just for the day, choose to be gay. You don’t even have to engage in coitus with your friend, you just have to want to do it with him.

Can’t do that, you say? OK, how about some good-looking guy at the gym? Or any other place? Just for a day, crave another guy.

Still can’t do it, you say? Hm, I guess it’s not a choice you can make.

Being gay isn’t a choice anybody makes. It’s the biological structure of the brain. Gay people are wired that way. It’s not a defect, it’s not a disease, and it sure isn’t a choice.

So stop being prejudiced and shake away the tired, old, hateful dogma of your church and think for yourself for once. Research the issue, and not just on those sights that support your view. Educate yourself before you make a moral judgment.

Being gay may not be a choice, but hating them is.

By: Capt. Roykirk

Capt. Roykirk — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:28:41 +0000

Ok, guess I’ll stop making comments on any Takei story, as I usually say something about homosexuality and then my comment gets deleted. Anyone else have that problem?

By: Mr Man

Mr Man — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:47:46 +0000

Trek has delt with this best when the actual issue of gender has never been the issue- Dax in a same sex relationship was never actually the issue with anyone in that episode – it was the fact she was breaking trill law by continuing a relationship from a previous host – that paticular point, that a same sex relationship raised no eyebrows at all and was not the subject of the story showed that no one cared in the 24th crentury and was not a problem – if trek was going to do that again – thats how it should be done – it should not be dwelled on in any way because it would not be an issue.

By: Eli

Eli — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:48:49 +0000

Considering best estimates are that the gay population consists of between 6-10 percent, maybe 12 percent at the most liberal estimation, I still don’t quite understand the demand to see an openly gay character in Star Trek, especially when the quality that makes one gay is a quality that is mostly get behind closed doors, gay OR straight.

The only way I can see a gay character being useful in Star Trek is if the crew of the Enterprise being forced to negotiate with a uni-sex society or something. TNG tried that already with mixed results. DS9 tried with with Dax reuniting with an old spouse from a previous host.

The whole problem with the gay factor and Trek from a purely objective and logical point of view, is that being gay does not make biological sense from an evolutionary point of view, so it’s going to be a perplexing problem whenever Trek tries to introduce gender issues through an alien race or by tackling it by introducing an openly gay character into a starship crew.

By the 24th century, reproduction screening processes could possibly purify human DNA, (not improve it, that was banned after the Eugenics Wars) which may do away with birth defects and the like, including the suspected genetic disposition to becoming gay by some groups. This theory would negate the existence of gay humans in the future.

Pure, unbiased speculation, just thinking out loud.