Was Captain Kirk bisexual?

[DonIago]

(laughs) Well, I'd consider it highly unlikely that they ever did anything physical, especially since that would seem to be somewhat of a glaring omission...but highly unlikely isn't the same as impossible.

I really can't see O'Brien cheating on Keiko with Bashir, though.

The PTB's failure to firmly establish characters' sexualities except via implication (at least in most cases) leaves viewers free to draw their own conclusions.

 

[Agenda]

The PTB's failure to firmly establish characters' sexualities except via implication (at least in most cases) leaves viewers free to draw their own conclusions.

How are they supposed to be explicit about it? Have the characters go around stating their sexual preference every few episodes?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

All we can go on is what we see onscreen. And we only ever saw Kirk express a hankering for...

wait for it...

THE WOMEN!

 

[DonIago]

The PTB's failure to firmly establish characters' sexualities except via implication (at least in most cases) leaves viewers free to draw their own conclusions.

How are they supposed to be explicit about it? Have the characters go around stating their sexual preference every few episodes?

Well, see, I'm a man. My co-workers probably assume I'm straight, though none of them have ever asked. I've been to at least three formal occasions with women, and never once with a man. My friends know I'm gay (though technically, I'll be the first to admit I could be bi and haven't realized it yet).

If I want to know whether I have a chance in hell with another guy, I either need to ask them their orientation or stack the odds (a gay-themed personals site).

If I see Joe HotGuy wandering down the street, and he's not in anyone's company, I'll likely assume he's straight. But that doesn't mean he is, and I'm well-aware that I'm only working with available evidence, which is far from conclusive.

If you generally only see someone once a week and they're never in a committed relationship with anyone, questioning whether they might be bisexual is hardly the most far-fetched notion.

As a wise man once said, "to assume the obvious is to overlook the obvious". We assume we know the orientations of our Trek characters based on the available evidence. But in most cases the available evidence is not nearly as conclusive as people might like to believe.

 

[SFRabid]

If by bi you mean both human and alien women...

 

[Cheapjack]

There was a thing in the TMP novelisation, which says that Spock thought of Kirk as his 'Thyla', which is Vulcan for brother or friend or lover.

You know, I think it MAY be 'cos Leonard Nimoy wears eye shade in TOS and so does MCoy.

That what might have started it off.



The Shatner roast was broadcast in england last week. The bit with Kirk and Spock's lovechild has my mother and I in tears of laughter!

It's all just a joke, really.

I like the bit in ST3, where Kirk says, 'We were seperated, he couldn't touch me'

It's not at all queer, but it's a good line. Very moving.

 

[Green Shirt]

If the best you can do for a reply is "No," you'll have to forgive me for remaining skeptical.

In my humble opinion, a simple "NO" is all the answer this question deserves.

 

[MNM]

Um...the whole point of bisexuality is that you're happy to have relations with either gender. Just because we only saw Kirk with women doesn't mean that's all he ever hooked up with.

What type of argument is that? we never saw the vast majority of characters hook up with a member of the same sex, shall we posit that all of them are bisexual?

 

[SpyOne]

I used to think it was his ship he was most committed to. (snip)

But then in STIII he blows it up. I try to reconcile the two thinking that when he was younger he was more fanatical, being loyal to ideas and with age seeing that it's the people behind them that are more important. Home is not the house but the people in it.

OR
Kirk recognized that he was about to lose his girl. Bad and violent men were going to take her away from him. And he'd rather kill her himself than have her be raped like that.

That's a view we can all understand, I think.

 

[SpyOne]

(laughs) Well, I'd consider it highly unlikely that they ever did anything physical, especially since that would seem to be somewhat of a glaring omission...but highly unlikely isn't the same as impossible.

.
A decade ago, a local radio morning team gave a lot of airplay to a bit made by editing together dialogue from TOS episodes. Mostly from The Enemy Within, so you got lots of choice lines like "I have to take him back inside myself. I can't survive without him. I don't want him back. He's like an animal, a thoughtless, brutal animal, ..."
and great Spock lines like, "I don't want to hurt you, Captain."

I'll have to try and find that online.

 

[SpyOne]

I really can't see O'Brien cheating on Keiko with Bashir, though.

O'BRIEN: I should've left a note for Keiko to let her what we were planning.
BASHIR: Why worry her?
O'BRIEN: No, I want her and the kids to understand why I had to do this.
BASHIR: She'll understand. She'll know you did it for me.
O'BRIEN: That's what'll upset her the most. She always said I liked you more than I liked her.
BASHIR: That's ridiculous.
O'BRIEN: Right. Yeah.
BASHIR: Well maybe you do, a bit more.
O'BRIEN: What? Are you crazy? She's my wife. I love her.
BASHIR: Of course you love her. She's your wife.
O'BRIEN: Yeah.
BASHIR: I'm just saying maybe you like me a bit more, that's all.
O'BRIEN: I do not.
BASHIR: You spend more time with me.
O'BRIEN: We work together.
BASHIR: We have more in common.
O'BRIEN: Julian, you are starting to annoy me.
BASHIR: Darts, racquetball, Vic's lounge, the Alamo. Need I go on?
O'BRIEN: I love my wife.
BASHIR: And I love Ezri. Passionately.
O'BRIEN: You do?
BASHIR: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Have you told her?
BASHIR: Not yet. But I will.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yeah? When?
BASHIR: When I'm ready. It's just that I like you a bit more. See? There, I've admitted it.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, well, I love my wife.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I like the bit in ST3, where Kirk says, 'We were seperated, he couldn't touch me'

It's not at all queer, but it's a good line. Very moving.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you meant "queer" as in "strange", and were not using it in a derogatory manner.

 

[SpyOne]

I like the bit in ST3, where Kirk says, 'We were seperated, he couldn't touch me'

It's not at all queer, but it's a good line. Very moving.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you meant "queer" as in "strange", and were not using it in a derogatory manner.

Can't have it both ways: If "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" isn't offensive, then it is okay to use "queer" to mean "homosexual" ("gay" is a euphamism, too) so long as you don't mean it as an insult.

 

[Theodore Jay Miller]

When asked about Captain Kirk and Mister Spock's relationship, Dr. McCoy replied: "From my observations, it seems they're bisexual, reproducing at will. And, brother, have they got a lot of will."

 

[Luther Sloan]

No.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I like the bit in ST3, where Kirk says, 'We were seperated, he couldn't touch me'

It's not at all queer, but it's a good line. Very moving.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you meant "queer" as in "strange", and were not using it in a derogatory manner.

Can't have it both ways: If "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" isn't offensive, then it is okay to use "queer" to mean "homosexual" ("gay" is a euphamism, too) so long as you don't mean it as an insult.

My point stands.

 

[Sector 7]

what I'm just putting it out there

I never noticed that one before. There were many moments in TOS that could be interpreted as bisexual or more than mere friendship.

It is interesting that most of those responding with adamant "No" have Kirk avatars.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you meant "queer" as in "strange", and were not using it in a derogatory manner.

Can't have it both ways: If "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" isn't offensive, then it is okay to use "queer" to mean "homosexual" ("gay" is a euphamism, too) so long as you don't mean it as an insult.

My point stands.

So does SpyOne's. The use of the word "queer" to mean "gay" doesn't have to be derogatory. The TV series got away with it, didn't it?

 

[The Grim Ghost]

No he wasn't. Honestly it would be intersting if he was. But fan fiction/slash writers wanting something to be true doesn't make it true.

Frankly I think it kind of cheapens the Kirk/Spock friendship to suggest it. Is every man or woman who has a close friendship with someone of the same gender a candidate for being bisexual? Of course not.

But let us just say that he was, just for kicks. Would it have any impact on his character? Not really.

I think it's kind of strange that a certain segment of fandom seems to want/need Kirk to be gay or bisexual. And then there is a large segment that is offended by the idea.

If you want to imagine that Kirk was bisexual feel free. But in the end, you won't find anything to support it. And you are going against the obvious intention of the writers. Kirk was portrayed as a heterosexual male.

 

[DonIago]

For myself, I don't really care whether or not he was bi, though I find it an amusing notion that he might have been (I'd also be surprised if he was). I find it equally amusing how adamant some people are that he couldn't possibly have been, given the lack of conclusive evidence either way and that a majority of them can't or won't even substantiate their argument beyond to say "We never saw him with a guy", as though that means anything.

For the record, every bisexual woman I've ever known has ended up with a man, but I wouldn't recommend going up to them and calling them straight.