Do you think LGBT characters will feature more prominently?

[Guy Gardener]

That's weak.

I expect to see a lot of faked sex, and stage kissing irregardless of which Genders are pressed to entertain me.

10 years ago on the web series Star Trek Hidden Frontier, a Bajoran was having post coitus locker room banter with his friends after a dirty weekend with some Klingon lad, who said "It's true what they say, he had ridges everywhere!"

Penis.

They were talking about a penis.

 

[borgboy]

The 80s Trek novel Dwellers in the Crucible revealed that Klingon men have three testicles.
Since we're talking about Klingon junk.

 

[Amaris]

The 80s Trek novel Dwellers in the Crucible revealed that Klingon men have three testicles.
Since we're talking about Klingon junk.

I love that book.

 

[Awesome Possum]

But heterosexuals whose chromosomes, outside appearance and mental inner workings form a single concrete unit are the norm.
To homosexuals who aren't comfortable with their sexuality it is far better if they see media representations of their group as just another aspect of normal life. Nichols's Uhura was such a positive example in the 60s because she was just one of the guys. Her skin color was not the defining aspect of her character. Sexuality also should not be treated as the sole defining aspect of a character that happens to be gay.

You aren't the norm, you're just the majority and that doesn't make you special. Also do you know why some people are uncomfortable with their sexuality? It's because straight people for centuries have said they were the norm and everyone else was degenerate or lesser or alternate. The desire to be seen as normal is so powerful that many people will ignore who they are in a fruitless quest to fit in. That needs to change because straight people aren't the normal ones and never were. LGBT aren't suddenly showing up like we're mutants or the symptoms of a more liberal and tolerate world. We've always been here and always will be here, despite attempts to erase us from history.

So I really don't know what you mean when you say you'd prefer characters who just happen to be gay because it really feels like weasel words. You feel uncomfortable seeing gay people, maybe because you have issues of your own that you want to avoid. Is it like how Picard just happens to be French and Geordi happens to be blind or do you want them to completely ignore it and it just be a single paragraph of their wiki entry?

Some or many writers can be less effective writing for particular characters. I think most fans agree Piller, Taylor, Menosky and Braga were at least OK writers (I wouldn't say Fuller was clearly better) and yet they made Chakotay a mediocre character and an at least somewhat stereotypical character (with much disagreement about the degree, with some, including me, thinking he was only a little stereotypical a few times but others thinking he was pretty stereotypical often). And yet I agree that minority group characters shouldn't be excluded even if the writers will probably make some missteps.

The solution to this is to hire better writers, not put up with any hack who walks through the door.

 

[ihno]

That's weak.

I expect to see a lot of faked sex, and stage kissing irregardless of which Genders are pressed to entertain me.

10 years ago on the web series Star Trek Hidden Frontier, a Bajoran was having post coitus locker room banter with his friends after a dirty weekend with some Klingon lad, who said "It's true what they say, he had ridges everywhere!"

Penis.

They were talking about a penis.

I am shocked by this! Also - both Klingons and Bajorans have ridges, the bajorans are smaller and on the nose. Some people say that the nose of a man is like his... but anyway I expect decency in all scenes of the new show.

F.e. Westworld had a bisexual orgy-scene. The bisexual part was that the male robot touched the arm of the guest. Wow, that was daring! And very diverse.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The 80s Trek novel Dwellers in the Crucible revealed that Klingon men have three testicles.
Since we're talking about Klingon junk.

What they do to their teeth?

Have they turned oral sex into a game of chicken?

 

[Tenacity]

Except STB took such a subtle approach that there are people refusing to accept that that guy was even Sulu's husband, making the argument they were brothers.

Or my in-theater take which is they were just buddies with no sexual component, and Sulu had no familiar connection with the child.

Contrast this with the introduction of Sarek's wife Amanda, "she who is my wife." Hard to misunderstand this.

Kirk was standing right there, why not have Sulu briefly introduce his husband and daughter to his commanding officer?

 

[borgboy]

Or my in-theater take which is they were just buddies with no sexual component, and Sulu had no familiar connection with the child.

Contrast this with the introduction of Sarek's wife Amanda, "she who is my wife." Hard to misunderstand this.

Kirk was standing right there, why not have Sulu briefly introduce his husband and daughter to his commanding officer?

TPTB used to blame it on conservative middle America not accepting it. Now they say it's because audiences in China won't accept it. So it's always something. The cowardly double standards are really tiresome.

 

[ihno]

TPTB used to blame it on conservative middle America not accepting it. Now they say it's because audiences in China won't accept it. So it's always something. The cowardly double standards are really tiresome.

Yeah, but they had "something gay", which they told the public a few days before the opening to create some clickbait.

How bold!

 

[Amaris]

I give STB some credit for actually acknowledging gay people as actual human beings and not just props for titillation. Still, I don't think it's at all wrong to say they could have done more. I am hoping Discovery addresses this issue in a thoughtful, straightforward, open, and progressive manner.

 

[Awesome Possum]

It's a half step, but it's some progress.

 

[borgboy]

Brian Fuller is a good producer, and his work has included supporting gay characters that were interesting and well developed. I trust him to handle all aspects of the show well.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I wonder if in Star Trek's future if there is a sexist schism, bordering on segregation, inside the gay community between natural gays and straight guys who were blasted with odd radiation from random alien tech until they didn't like girls any more?

 

[Guy Gardener]

I give STB some credit for actually acknowledging gay people as actual human beings and not just props for titillation. Still, I don't think it's at all wrong to say they could have done more. I am hoping Discovery addresses this issue in a thoughtful, straightforward, open, and progressive manner.

I object to the word progressive, since all I want, was common place on Buffy 20 years ago.

 

[ihno]

I wonder if in Star Trek's future if there is a sexist schism, bordering on segregation, inside the gay community between natural gays and straight guys who were blasted with odd radiation from random alien tech until they didn't like girls any more?

Wouldn't that make being gay look like an illness?

Brain-eating ants that make people gay. (Sorry, just watching braindead).

 

[Guy Gardener]

If there was a man shortage.

Scarcity.

The unfucked could get a little tetchy about how the intermediary homosexuals are hoarding all the top shelf blokes, before their condition clears up.

 

[Amaris]

I object to the word progressive, since all I want, was common place on Buffy 20 years ago.

That's the point, though. A show like Star Trek, which has used the "progressive" label for decades, has not been at all progressive.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Steven Universe has a character who is a lesbian relationship. Not in a relationship, she's two beings living as a merged being who is considered a separate character than the original two beings. She had to leave her homeworld because it wasn't accepted there. That alone is more alien than anything Star Trek ever attempted to show and it's on Cartoon Network and written at a level that children can easily understand.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Alternative Factor, if they stopped trying to kill each other?

 

[Awesome Possum]

The Alternative Factor, if they stopped trying to kill each other?

More like Tuvix if Tuvok and Neelix were in love and could merge and unmerge at will, also he fights monsters instead of hanging around Voyager.