hopefully some gayness/lesbianess

[Cary L. Brown]

Is it? So show homosexual people, only if 'they have a place in the story'. Rubbish. Should they only depict heterosexual people only if they have a place in the story?

Nonsense.

I know very few people who are so shallow, who lead such useless lives, that who they get turned on by is the most central and defining characteristic of who they are.

FYI, I always sort of assumed Sulu was gay... but never cared all that much. (I was a bit surprised when they portrayed him as having become a father at some point, actually... and realize this was all long before Takei's sexual preference was ever an issue).

The thing is, 99% of the time, a person is just a person. And in the course of an "adventure story" it makes very little sense for "Action heroic figure #4" to suddenly go off on a diatribe about how he or she feels about his or her social life.

If there's some element of some character which is significant to that character in some fashion... sure, touch on it briefly, but don't make an issue of it. That's what I find so annoying with all the push to have "gay characters" in Trek (usually in prose fiction). It's not that the characters happen to be gay... it's that their storylines always seem to turn into freakin' SOAP OPERAS.

I find soap operas... regardless of whether it's between two men, two women, a man and a woman, or a man and his inflatable sheep puppet... to be obnoxious! If I wanted to watch something like that, I'd turn on "As the Stomach Turns," not Star Trek...

 

[ST-One]

I have no problem with homosexuality depicted in a movie or television show, be it subtle or overt, but only if it's relevant to the characters or the story. I don't need it shoehorned in just so the movie can appeal to certain focus groups. It's not discriminatory or politically incorrect to omit homosexuals from a television show or movie if they're not relevant to anything the show or movie is trying to tell the audience.

Well said.

Is it? So show homosexual people, only if 'they have a place in the story'. Rubbish. Should they only depict heterosexual people only if they have a place in the story?

Just for the record: I'm gay. And I have absolutely no problem with what Shatterhand wrote.
If one character in this film is homosexual then just don't make a big fuss about it. It's not important. It's just a fact about this character.
Homosexuality is quite probably not an issue in the 23rd century (as will Blood and Fire - hopefully - show), so why should a Trek-film make it one?

 

[T J]

Ya know what... no. This time just no.

 

[ST-One]

Is it? So show homosexual people, only if 'they have a place in the story'. Rubbish. Should they only depict heterosexual people only if they have a place in the story?

Nonsense.

I know very few people who are so shallow, who lead such useless lives, that who they get turned on by is the most central and defining characteristic of who they are.

FYI, I always sort of assumed Sulu was gay... but never cared all that much. (I was a bit surprised when they portrayed him as having become a father at some point, actually... and realize this was all long before Takei's sexual preference was ever an issue).

The thing is, 99% of the time, a person is just a person. And in the course of an "adventure story" it makes very little sense for "Action heroic figure #4" to suddenly go off on a diatribe about how he or she feels about his or her social life.

If there's some element of some character which is significant to that character in some fashion... sure, touch on it briefly, but don't make an issue of it. That's what I find so annoying with all the push to have "gay characters" in Trek (usually in prose fiction). It's not that the characters happen to be gay... it's that their storylines always seem to turn into freakin' SOAP OPERAS.

I find soap operas... regardless of whether it's between two men, two women, a man and a woman, or a man and his inflatable sheep puppet... to be obnoxious! If I wanted to watch something like that, I'd turn on "As the Stomach Turns," not Star Trek...

Shockingly... I agree.

 

[Dorothy_Zbornak]

This question was posed to the producers earlier this year and they said at that time there would be no gay characters or indication of such.

 

[ST-One]

This question was posed to the producers earlier this year and they said at that time there would be no gay characters or indication of such.

And since none of the main characters is homosexual, I didn't expect anything else.

 

[M'Sharak]

I mean they dodged this one in different ways ever since TNG. It's about damn time.

A bit light on substance, but it was a statement of topic, so I decided to let it run, knowing full well that it could lead to posts like this one:

Maybe homosexuality was cured by Kirk's time.

What about goat fuckers? I'm shocked and appalled that Star Trek has absolutely refused to depict any goat fuckers in any movie or series!

It could be a simple scene...Kirk getting ready to leave for the Enterprise and one of the cadets in the background could be doinkin' a goat...maybe a 2 or 3 second shot. Is that asking too much?

Goat fuckers unite! Make a statement! Your time is long overdue!!! BAAAH!! BAAAAH!!

(Oh wait, baah is a sheep noise...anyway you get the point.)

...which is inflammatory and completely unnecessary (not to mention borderline trolling, which I do not want to see again) and tends to lead to responses like this:

Maybe...

Let's hope idiots like you will be cured by Kirk's time.

And by 'cured' I mean 'vanished', just like you.

...which are technically warnable.

But I won't do that -- not yet -- because there has also been some proper and rational discussion of the actual topic.

If we can stick to that, there's even room for some satirical (but not mean-spirited) humor:

Homosexuals, yes but the Welsh? Never!

What if their Welshness was really subtle and handled tastefully? Like a really really subtle accent, or it could be mentioned in passing that they had a samesex partner in Newport, I mean, how many non-Welsh people know where Newport is? I'm sure that would get past the critics but still satisfy the Welsh fans...

 

[Eric Cheung]

Each under-represented group has a certain threshold to cross before their status as a representative of that group is irrelevent. Presence alone justifies having such groups represented on screen. It doesn't have to be over-the-top. I think in Mr. Holland's Opus they had a gay couple holding hands when the movie shifted to 1995, that was all. In TOS most of the diverse groups represented were done in ways that would be stereotypical now but it was a step in the right direction because they were all at least seen as professional, equal members of the crew. I think there should be a presence, and there's no way it has to be done as over-the-top as was done in TOS, I hope we've learned since then what approach to take.

 

[Squiggy]

Simple solution:

Take one of the established characters and make them gay. That'll please everyone.

 

[Meredith]

Is it? So show homosexual people, only if 'they have a place in the story'. Rubbish. Should they only depict heterosexual people only if they have a place in the story?

Nonsense.

I know very few people who are so shallow, who lead such useless lives, that who they get turned on by is the most central and defining characteristic of who they are.

FYI, I always sort of assumed Sulu was gay... but never cared all that much. (I was a bit surprised when they portrayed him as having become a father at some point, actually... and realize this was all long before Takei's sexual preference was ever an issue).

The thing is, 99% of the time, a person is just a person. And in the course of an "adventure story" it makes very little sense for "Action heroic figure #4" to suddenly go off on a diatribe about how he or she feels about his or her social life.

If there's some element of some character which is significant to that character in some fashion... sure, touch on it briefly, but don't make an issue of it. That's what I find so annoying with all the push to have "gay characters" in Trek (usually in prose fiction). It's not that the characters happen to be gay... it's that their storylines always seem to turn into freakin' SOAP OPERAS.

I find soap operas... regardless of whether it's between two men, two women, a man and a woman, or a man and his inflatable sheep puppet... to be obnoxious! If I wanted to watch something like that, I'd turn on "As the Stomach Turns," not Star Trek...

Sulu and Steve had a Daughter via artificial DNA meiosis engineering by McCoy, if they can produce someone as hawt as Demora Sulu from the DNA of two men, I have no problem with homosexuality in Trek!

 

[ALF]

I'm sure this movie will have everything. It'll be better than ten Super Bowls!

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Maybe homosexuality was cured by Kirk's time.

What about goat fuckers? I'm shocked and appalled that Star Trek has absolutely refused to depict any goat fuckers in any movie or series!

It could be a simple scene...Kirk getting ready to leave for the Enterprise and one of the cadets in the background could be doinkin' a goat...maybe a 2 or 3 second shot. Is that asking too much?

Goat fuckers unite! Make a statement! Your time is long overdue!!! BAAAH!! BAAAAH!!

(Oh wait, baah is a sheep noise...anyway you get the point.)

Take inflammatory shit like this over to TNZ where it belongs.

There's a place where something like this actually belongs?

Remind me not to visit that place.

 

[Kpnuts]

Maybe homosexuality was cured by Kirk's time.

What about goat fuckers? I'm shocked and appalled that Star Trek has absolutely refused to depict any goat fuckers in any movie or series!

It could be a simple scene...Kirk getting ready to leave for the Enterprise and one of the cadets in the background could be doinkin' a goat...maybe a 2 or 3 second shot. Is that asking too much?

Goat fuckers unite! Make a statement! Your time is long overdue!!! BAAAH!! BAAAAH!!

(Oh wait, baah is a sheep noise...anyway you get the point.)

Take inflammatory shit like this over to TNZ where it belongs.

There's a place where something like this actually belongs?

Remind me not to visit that place.

 

[shapeshifter]

We'll probably get, at the least, a gay couple in the background of the bar scene. At the most, if the producers have balls enough to do it, Sulu will be gay or, since he has a daughter, bisexual.

 

[ST-One]

We'll probably get, at the least, a gay couple in the background of the bar scene. At the most, if the producers have balls enough to do it, Sulu will be gay or, since he has a daughter, bisexual.

Sulu is not, and has never been, gay.
The actor IS - the character is NOT.

 

[Cyke101]

If Saldana's Uhura turned out to be bisexual, I think the topic of allowing homosexuality in Trek would be put to rest, for any number of reasons, both sad and good.

 

[Eric Cheung]

Well technically we don't know since he didn't really have really have any romantic subplots in the show, the closest being Mirror Sulu's crush on Uhura.

 

[ST-One]

Well technically we don't know since he didn't really have really have any romantic subplots in the show, the closest being Mirror Sulu's crush on Uhura.

Well, there was this Scotty-thing in TFF...

 

[shapeshifter]

Well technically we don't know since he didn't really have really have any romantic subplots in the show, the closest being Mirror Sulu's crush on Uhura.

Exactly, we don't know for sure either way. We know he has a daughter but that doesn't prove anything. We saw him hit on Uhura in Mirror Mirror but perhaps that Sulu was straight. No evidence exists that I am aware of can be pointed at and conclusivly said to prove he is straight.

 

[ST-One]

oh, I should have read that more carefully... I thought this was about Uhura not Sulu...