Do you think LGBT characters will feature more prominently?

[Shaka Zulu]

Something that relates to this topic, from the producers of the web series Carmilla:

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[Balok's Decoy]

Oh but wasn't it so much better 30-40 years ago when blackface, yellow peril, slapping women around, no gays to be seen, men didn't show any kind of emotion was all the rage? I mean TV was so superior when that was 99% of it...apparently.

If the characters don't all look like John Wayne, then I DON'T WATCH IT. SJWs!!!

 

[m.lp.ql.m]

I'd like to chime in on this subject. When I recently read that Discovery would feature an "openly gay" character, I have to admit that I felt it was a bit of a wrong turn to take straight out of the gate. Here's my take on it... In the future, after humankind has taken its place in the galactic neighborhood, I think the ideas of gender and sexual preference will likely be more of an afterthought to most people. I feel that when people are surrounded by alien species who differ in so many ways, the ideas of human gender identity or sexual preference will be issues of the past. I am just concerned that they might be depicting a future that is not in keeping with Gene's vision. In my opinion it would be better if this character is simply more open minded than most modern people. I'm not saying not to do it, and I realize that they likely won't call attention to it every time the guy walks in the room, but to me modern gay people on tv seem to be very angry at straight people a lot of the time. To me that's just another form of prejudice, so it has no place on a show about a future where everybody accepts everyone. I also recognize that they didn't say this character would be against straight people. No, there shouldn't be anti-gay people on the ship. There shouldn't be anti any people on the ship. A fitting example is the fact that Gene had a bald captain on the Enterprise D. Everyone joked, haven't they cured baldness by the 24th century?! Gene basically said, sure, they just wouldn't care. To clarify: I am not saying not to have a character with a flexible view of human sexuality, I am concerned that the show runners immediately called attention to it in such a specific way. Like saying, "Get ready for the drama!"

This same opinion has been "chimed in" several times already in this thread. It's just another version of the old "I don't care what gay people do in the privacy of their own home, but do they have to flaunt their sexuality all the time?" trope. If EVERYONE stops "flaunting their sexuality," INCLUDING the straight characters, then we'll have equality.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

This same opinion has been "chimed in" several times already in this thread. It's just another version of the old "I don't care what gay people do in the privacy of their own home, but do they have to flaunt their sexuality all the time?" trope. If EVERYONE stops "flaunting their sexuality," INCLUDING the straight characters, then we'll have equality.

I think everyone should flaunt their sexuality.

 

[Kemaiku]

Yup, as has been pointed out so many times, heteronormative relationships take up a ridiculous amount of time and generate a huge sum of the interpersonal drama on most shows including Star Trek. Where a lot of the time it was boldly going...into each other pants, and it took up too many episodes.

Given how long a history Trek had, that it showed ZERO LGBTQ characters in 50 years, simply in a relationship, mentioned as a partner, a kiss (a proper one) and absolutely no genderqueer personalities, is bizarre. That can't be the same Earth or humanity we have now.

Carmilla is heavily skewed in the opposite direction and as an independent webseries it has that ability to do so. But it's hugely popular. I loved the book as a teenager and watched the the first two seasons some time ago, and seeing some of the characters depicted helped me identify my own demigender leanings and that has been a big change in my life that might not have happened had it not been for seeing others with that gender identity portrayed onscreen.

Trek embracing the same ideal and having healthy portrayels of the sexual and gender spectrums we now know exist is going to similarly help a great many more people and give a better glimpse of a united future, now more than ever.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Yup, as has been pointed out so many times, heteronormative relationships take up a ridiculous amount of time and generate a huge sum of the interpersonal drama on most shows including Star Trek. Where a lot of the time it was boldly going...into each other pants, and it took up too many episodes.

Given how long a history Trek had, that it showed ZERO LGBTQ characters in 50 years, simply in a relationship, mentioned as a partner, a kiss (a proper one) and absolutely no genderqueer personalities, is bizarre. That can't be the same Earth or humanity we have now.

Carmilla is heavily skewed in the opposite direction and as an independent webseries it has that ability to do so. But it's hugely popular. I loved the book as a teenager and watched the the first two seasons some time ago, and seeing some of the characters depicted helped me identify my own demigender leanings and that has been a big change in my life that might not have happened had it not been for seeing others with that gender identity portrayed onscreen.

Trek embracing the same ideal and having healthy portrayels of the sexual and gender spectrums we now know exist is going to similarly help a great many more people and give a better glimpse of a united future, now more than ever.

All I'm saying is, I know a lot more gay people than I do aliens with antennae sticking out of their heads.

 

[Tenacity]

If social media existed in the 1960's I can imagine the outcry that ...

And I can imagine the cheers and posting of support.

Remember, non white men started to be cast in more prominent roles because the populace was calling for it, and the network management responded by making it policy.

 

[Jedman67]

I'd like to chime in on this subject. When I recently read that Discovery would feature an "openly gay" character, I have to admit that I felt it was a bit of a wrong turn to take straight out of the gate. Here's my take on it... In the future, after humankind has taken its place in the galactic neighborhood, I think the ideas of gender and sexual preference will likely be more of an afterthought to most people. I feel that when people are surrounded by alien species who differ in so many ways, the ideas of human gender identity or sexual preference will be issues of the past. I am just concerned that they might be depicting a future that is not in keeping with Gene's vision. In my opinion it would be better if this character is simply more open minded than most modern people. I'm not saying not to do it, and I realize that they likely won't call attention to it every time the guy walks in the room, but to me modern gay people on tv seem to be very angry at straight people a lot of the time. To me that's just another form of prejudice, so it has no place on a show about a future where everybody accepts everyone. I also recognize that they didn't say this character would be against straight people. No, there shouldn't be anti-gay people on the ship. There shouldn't be anti any people on the ship. A fitting example is the fact that Gene had a bald captain on the Enterprise D. Everyone joked, haven't they cured baldness by the 24th century?! Gene basically said, sure, they just wouldn't care. To clarify: I am not saying not to have a character with a flexible view of human sexuality, I am concerned that the show runners immediately called attention to it in such a specific way. Like saying, "Get ready for the drama!"

In the future, everyone aught to be genderless, sexless androgynous people who reproduce via cloning.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It was all about selling cigarettes in the beginning.

The more diversity that watched for representation, the more cigarettes that were bought by diversity.

Imagine...

A redneck and a black panther reach for the same carton of cigarettes on a drug store counter-top.

"You like lucky extra menthol? I like Luck extra menthol. We're like, the the same?"

"Star Trek told me to buy Lucky extra menthol, did Star Trek tell you to buy Lucky extra menthol?"

"Yes! Star Trek did tell me to buy lucky extra menthol! WE ARE THE SAME!"

 

[Jedman67]

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[Nyotarules]

In the future, everyone aught to be genderless, sexless androgynous people who reproduce via cloning.

Star Trek has those already they are called the Borg

 

[borgboy]

That there shouldn't be any gay people in Trek because society evolved beyond gender and orientation is a pretty strange suggestion. Does that remotely sound like what Trek's future looks like? Because from what I've seen in every episode and movie is a bunch of cisgender heterosexuals.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Personally I think everyone will be like Kirk: "pansexual fun seekers."

(As per Simon Pegg's description)

 

[Guy Gardener]

Excessive pride is maybe only necessary when some is telling you excessively to be unprideful.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

 

[Kemaiku]

Personally I think everyone will be like Kirk: "pansexual fun seekers."

(As per Simon Pegg's description)

I read that as "pansexual fur seekers."

But then, we already got that.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I mentioned a while back... What if everything happened at the same time?

The Bruce Lee fighting a hundred guys one at a time thing, were Kirk's Enterprise has weeks to recover after every adventure and have fortunately travelled dozens of light years in exactly the necessary direction to find it's next galaxy threatening adventure.

What if Kirk had met his 60 girlfriends in the same damn glorious and confusing week?

Oh.

"giggle"

The Bachelor: Star Trek Edition.

 

[Kemaiku]

Never use a blacklight on the Enterprise.

 

[BRINX01]

This same opinion has been "chimed in" several times already in this thread. It's just another version of the old "I don't care what gay people do in the privacy of their own home, but do they have to flaunt their sexuality all the time?" trope. If EVERYONE stops "flaunting their sexuality," INCLUDING the straight characters, then we'll have equality.

Not what I said. What I was saying is that although it's socially relevant now, in the Star Trek imaginary future I don't personally think any of the starfleet crew members I've seen would care about any other person's sexual preference. They've seen enough diversity at that point for it to no longer be anything to call attention to. The fact that the show runners immediately called attention to it suggests that they may take a point of view that might be out of place in that future. I want the show to be about space exploration. If there are going to be gay, transgender, or any other variety or characters on the show I just want them to be relevant to the crew, not something thrown in to be flaunted as intentionally controversial. In other words, make the gay character a likeable person, not just gay. If they had started the show and made all of the characters interesting and said that maybe down the line one of them would be revealed as gay, I don't think I would have complained.

 

[BRINX01]

In the future, everyone aught to be genderless, sexless androgynous people who reproduce via cloning.

In the Star Trek future, no one should care about those issues in Starfleet. I'm willing to wait and see how it's presented.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Why is it that every time a TV character is announced as being LGBTQ, people automatically assume the character isn't likeable, interesting, or useful to the story in their own right and just there for the sake of it? Why is "Prove to me why they matter here" the default reaction, before we've even seen a frame of footage?