LGBTQIA Disco Fam
- Thread starter Quinn
- Start date
Thank you so much for sharing your response Captain, I appreciate hearing it. Discovery is one of the few shows I feel less unseen while watching; I’d love to hear from anyone else too!
Gay male here and Discovery's representation absolutely resonates with me. When I was growing up, gay men where 99.9% of the time depicted as self-destructive or as an accessory for straight women. I could have really used a Culber and a Stamets in Star Trek when I was in my teens and early twenties in the late 90's/early 2000's. Culber is my hero.
As a non-binary individual, I grew up not really seeing myself many places in media— Adira is one of the first characters I’ve ever related that much to on an identity level. And Stamets-Culber-Tal family is everything to me.
Wow, I thought I was the only demi here
I love all found-family stories.
I love all found-family stories.
It's great finally having people like us on Star Trek!
Wow, I thought I was the only demi here
Doesn't demisexual just mean you only want to have sex with people you care about emotionally? That would seem to cover a very broad range of individuals.
It's not simply not wanting to have sex. They don't feel sexual attraction at all unless they're emotionally close. I can feel sexually attracted to people without wanting to do anything about it for various reasons.
Still, I've known a lot of women who have reported something along these lines, even 20 years ago. I'm just not sure it's that unusual of an orientation.
Though TBH I'm not entirely sure how one would define "sexual attraction." I mean, I can see a woman who I feel drawn to, or who is so achingly beautiful that I can't stop looking at her. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm aroused or explicitly thinking about sex. Is that sexual attraction, or just plain old attraction?
Real life bi trans woman here, and the whole Stamets family thing was pretty much my favorite part of season 3 and really reminded me of some of the queer spaces I've frequented (pre-pandemic...), albeit on a smaller scale. I really hope they get Gray a body next season though!
I’m gay and I couldn’t care less about Discovery’s LGBTQ+ representation. Not only do I consider it forced and badly handled from a writing point of view, I personally don’t need to see gay people on the television to validate my own existence and feel better about myself.
I’m happy for people that enjoy it though.
*goes to look up what on earth biromantic and demisexual mean…*
I’m happy for people that enjoy it though.
*goes to look up what on earth biromantic and demisexual mean…*
The found-family elements are so important to my heart- and wow yay for all the demis showing up in this thread!Wow, I thought I was the only demi here
I love all found-family stories.
That was pretty much a major highlight is season 3 for me too, I also found myself reminded of some queer friendly spaces I’d spend pre-pandemic time at with bits and pieces of the LGBTQIA story unfolding.
For me it’s less about validating my own existence, but it’s nice to see people like me somewhere after a lot of media without that element for me personally, but we all like and dislike what we like/dislike!
To actually post something on topic, I've only realized I was a trans woman a little over half a year ago, so most of my experience watching Discovery didn't involve the catharsis of feeling represented, but I still felt glad that LGBTQ people in Star Trek are finally treated with the respect they deserve. I mean, after the disgraceful Profit and Lace or Rick Berman infamously scuttling Blood and Fire, the community really deserved this from a franchise that has always prided itself upon being the vanguard of progress and representation on network TV. I love how their identities aren't what define their characters, like how Stamets is first and foremost a grumpy scientist who's bad with people, and who just incidentally happens to live in a same-sex relationship. Adira clarifying their gender was treated as matter-of-factly as it could've been and it was refreshing to see how easily and quickly the crew accepted it.
As for what could've been and luckily didn't happen, I'm very, very happy that they didn't just take the easiest route with trans representation and pointed out random characters played by cis performers as trans with the reasoning that 32nd century medical technology should be so advanced that trans people who transition would be anatomically indistinguishable from cis people. Would I want something like that for myself? Hell yes. But would I want to sacrifice trans representation in a 21st century media production for the sake of such "realism"? Hell no. I'm glad we've dodged this bullet so far.
I admit though, all my barbs to people complaining online about a lack of relatable white males on the show where I told them I had no trouble identifying with Burnham and Tilly's backstories and struggles despite being a cis white male seem quite funny now in retrospect. Ah well.
As for what could've been and luckily didn't happen, I'm very, very happy that they didn't just take the easiest route with trans representation and pointed out random characters played by cis performers as trans with the reasoning that 32nd century medical technology should be so advanced that trans people who transition would be anatomically indistinguishable from cis people. Would I want something like that for myself? Hell yes. But would I want to sacrifice trans representation in a 21st century media production for the sake of such "realism"? Hell no. I'm glad we've dodged this bullet so far.
I admit though, all my barbs to people complaining online about a lack of relatable white males on the show where I told them I had no trouble identifying with Burnham and Tilly's backstories and struggles despite being a cis white male seem quite funny now in retrospect. Ah well.
Can we please keep this a positive and friendly thread and not go down the road of whether one thinks representation is not important or whether that representation feels "forced" or not (because that's not the topic)? It just inevitably ends up with a lot of ugly and bigoted viewpoints being expressed (not saying yours were, just that it will lead things down that path), and that's not fair to the OP or to the other LGBTQ+ posters or viewers of the thread or forum. Thank you.
If anyone has any issues with this, comments to PM, not in the thread.
Te
Yes please! Strongly seconded.
