What political point could possibly be made?
"Political point" perhaps is not the correct term. I just wouldn't want to see a scenario where the writers are implying or plainly stating that a certain character is a certain way; say transgender or any other characteristic (which is fine in and of itself) in such a heavy handed way as to feel unnatural to the story or to the characters development. I feel this was done in Supergirl with Kara's sister, Alex. OK, she's into girls. Fine. But then the scenes were written in such a way that it felt like the writers/producers were being forceful in that portrayal... unnecessarily long scenes of kissing, making out, implying intimacy between the two characters, repeatedly. (I had more of an issue with this because of its air time and the fact that my 4-year old is asking questions that he cant yet understand the answers to).
Once Upon a Time is/was even worse with this. When they suddenly and for no apparent reason other than to do it, made Dorothy of Kansas a lesbian in love with Mulan. It came out of no where.. there was no lead up to it, no interesting glances or playful flirting that would signal that perhaps Dorothy liked other girls.. it was just shoved in front of us in a way that felt awkward and forced by the writers, as if they decided at the last minute to make this character lesbian. And thus it was not believable.
But more so than that, especially on broadcast stations such as ABC, CBS, etc, concepts and ideas that are more in alignment with progressive ideas are portrayed on screen, unabashedly so. I personal have no real problem with that; but it often feels to me, and other viewers in my family, that many times what is presented to us in fictional television is done so in a manner as to try to present one side of a controversial or debatable topic to the viewer, and that's it.
My point is, if First Officer Micheal Burnham is the lady's name, fine. If she's supposed t be trans, fine too- but make it a part of her character... her history.. make it mean something. Don't just make her/him that way just as lip-service to those who want to see more trans people on tv, and don't do it for the sake of "forcing" transgender issues to the forefront. I don't want to see fictional tv for the sake of entertainment being used in much the same way as all of the news media is used, to present one-side of the issues that we deal with today in an attempt to make "their perspective" the right one by overwhelmingly only showcasing, what is more often than not, a "progressive", left-leaning perspective.
That's what I mean by doing it for the "wrong reason". If we accept that characteristics of other people are completely normal and natural, then it shouldn't need to be written in the show to be so "in your face". Let it be natural.. acknowledge it and continue on. We can have characters in our favorite shows representing the demographics of real life without the metaphorical jumping up and down screaming, "Look! Look! A gay/trans/bi/purple person!". Yes, OK... we see that, thank you for point it out. No need to artificially make a big deal out of it just to bring attention to it.
Now if they purposefully made Michael Burnham, as portrayed by Martin-Green, transgender, and used that to demonstrate tolerance for this other identity, or conversely to show us how perhaps humans haven't improved and this character must endure prejudice and mistreatment, and how she/he overcomes that, that would be great.
Really, who knows... perhaps "Micheal" is just how it is spelled, and it's actually pronounced in a way that makes it more effeminate or ethnic and it has nothing to do with gender identity issues or sexual orientation whatsoever.
