Sexuality in Star Trek
There have been depictions of bisexual relationships, but always with a twist (e.g. using versions of characters from a mirror universe instead of the "real" ones; female Trill Dax and Kahn in "Rejoined" have been a heterosexual couple in their former lives).
The 1968 episode "Plato's Stepchildren" is often cited as the "first interracial kiss" depicted on television, between James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), but the reality is not so straightforward.
William Shatner recalls in Star Trek Memories that NBC insisted their lips never touch (the technique of turning their heads away from the camera was used to conceal this); moreover, the episode portrays the kiss as involuntary, being forced by telekinesis.
Nichelle Nichols insists in her autobiography Beyond Uhura (written in 1994 after Shatner's book) that the kiss was real, even in takes where her head obscures their lips.
Star Trek had also featured an interracial kiss between William Shatner and France Nuyen in "Elaan of Troyius" but had drawn no comment.
[4] Earlier in 1968, NBC had expressed similar concern over a musical sequence in a Petula Clark special in which she touched Harry Belafonte's arm, a moment cited as the first occasion of direct physical contact on American television between a man and woman of different races.
[5] At one point during negotiations, the idea was brought up of having Spock kiss Uhura instead, but William Shatner insisted that they stick with the original script.
[7] As Nichelle Nichols writes: Knowing that Gene was determined to air the real kiss, Bill shook me and hissed menacingly in his best ham-fisted Kirkian staccato delivery, "I!
"[10] Star Trek's original series did not have any explicitly LGBT characters, although in 2005 George Takei, who portrayed helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu, came out as gay.
[13] He explained that, after the suicide of bisexual teenager Jamey Rodemeyer, he realized "that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality.
Other stars of the franchise chimed in, with Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock) offering his support in a 1991 letter to the Los Angeles Times saying, "It is entirely fitting that gays and lesbians will appear unobtrusively aboard the Enterprise—neither objects of pity nor melodramatic attention.
While no gay crew members appeared on TNG, "The Outcast" was one episode that was intended to address the subject of sexual discrimination in the Star Trek universe.
[18]In 2002, Kate Mulgrew (who played Captain Janeway) gave an interview to Metrosource where she spoke candidly about the issue of LGBT characters in the Star Trek television universe: Because of its both political and potentially incendiary substance.
It's one thing to cast a subordinate black, Asian, or woman, but to put them in a leading role means the solid endorsement of one of the largest studios in the world.
It requires a terrific social conscience on their part and the pledge of some solidarity and unanimity, which I think is probably at the source of most of this problem to get every one of those executives on board regarding this decision.
[19]That same year Mulgrew stated in an August 2002 interview for Out in America: Well, one would think that Hollywood would be more open-minded at this point, since essentially the whole town is run by the gay community.
[20]In a 1990 Next Generation episode, "The Offspring", Data creates Lal, an android daughter, and the other crew members seek to explain humanoid sexuality to her.
According to TNG research consultant Richard Arnold, Whoopi Goldberg refused to deliver her character's dialogue with a strictly heterosexual explanation: According to the script, Guinan was supposed to start telling Lal, "When a man and a woman are in love..." and in the background, there would be men and women sitting at tables, holding hands.
[22] Star Trek TNG did include a number of male members of the crew wearing mini-skirts (referred to as a skant), this was not further developed to explore whether this was a simple uniform choice or an expression of gender.
On July 7, 2016, it was announced that the film Star Trek Beyond would portray Hikaru Sulu as being in a same-sex relationship raising a daughter.
[25] Although George Takei was delighted that there was a gay character, he thought it was unfortunate that it was Sulu as it was not in keeping with what Gene Roddenberry would have wanted.
[30] The actors portraying all three roles—Anthony Rapp (Stamets), Wilson Cruz (Culber), and Tig Notaro (Reno)—are openly gay.
In the first-season finale of Star Trek: Picard, Seven of Nine and Raffi are seen holding hands, clasping fingers romantically.
In the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Spock Amok", Christine Chapel is confirmed to have been in a relationship with a woman in the past.
[37] On October 8, 2020, the creator of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Mike McMahan confirmed that Captain Amina Ramsey was Beckett Mariner's former lover at Starfleet Academy, even though it wasn't explicit, saying that "every Starfleet officer is probably at the baseline bisexual" in a sense, and that they did not "intentionally mean for anybody to be strictly heteronormative or straight or cis."
[1] Instructions for authors that had previously wished to write officially licensed Star Trek spin-off books stated that there was to be no suggestion of a relationship "other than friendship" between crew members,[42] but this restriction no longer applies.
In a foreword written by James Kirk, the Captain cleverly avoids confirmation or denial of a romantic relationship with Spock.
He argued that the continued invisibility and absence of such characters may well have led to the growing rejection of the Trek franchise and spin-off media by gay and lesbian Trekkers.
[47] The fan-made Star Trek: The Web Comic, started in 2014, has published two storylines featuring LGBT characters.
Science Fiction news site Io9's review of the comic said it tread ground the franchise rarely did, stating: "What's especially refreshing is that [Captain Madison's] homosexuality is a part of his character, but not a focus of the plot.
