Don't get me wrong, but in real life gay people are a very small minority. So why is everyone here pushing for a gay character in Star Trek? What would be the point? Star Trek is not about real life anyway, it's a science fiction show set more than 300 years in the future! We have already touched this topic in DS9 ... and the way I took it, sexual orientation wouldn't even be worth talking about in the 24th century Federation. So what is all the fuzz about?
If they include a same sex relationship, I'd like to see something like Willow and Tara in Buffy The Vampire Slayer ... I think they handled it just perfectly there. Their relationship was just there, no big deal!
With all due respect to gay people, but I find it quite bizarre how some are trying to shove down their sexual preferences down everyone's throat ... no pun intended.
Why was it so important for there to be a black woman on the bridge in TOS? There was no human racial bigotry or civil rights struggle in the 23rd century. Why a pan-Asian character? There were no ongoing tensions with the Chinese or wars fought against Japan or Japanese-Americans interned only twenty years earlier in the distant future. Why a Russian character? The Cold War was ancient history to them. Why'd they do a thinly veiled commentary on Vietnam when it was set in the 2260s and not the 1960s? Why was
ST-IV about saving the whales and the adverse effects of damaging our environment in the 1980s when whales were being hunted to extinction? Why did
TNG feature a really lame drug addiction episode during the Reagan-era "Just Say No" campaign?
Star Trek has always used its future setting as a lens to look back on contemporary issues and comment on them from the perspective of fictional characters who are supposed to be beyond our petty bigotry, nationalism, and other present day flaws. Today, bigotry against LGBT people and their fight for civil rights is a major issue, and the shows/films should reflect that in some way by providing a visible example of a society where we've outgrown that bigotry.
Writers have been trying to get that reflected in Star Trek since TNG and have frequently been shot down (David Gerrold) or in order to have any LGBT issues raised it has had to be watered down through nine levels of alien metaphor to get it onscreen, like
TNG: The Outcast or
DS9: Rejoined. Trek, instead of being one of the innovators that were setting the tone for inclusiveness like it did in the 60s, instead fell way behind where other movies and TV series were on the depiction of LGBT characters, so including one now would be redressing a longstanding oversight.
I'm not sure what you're point is with the Willow and Tara reference. Are you under the impression that people are calling for a gay pride parade to march down the corridors of the ship every five minutes or for a flamboyant stereotype character to constantly make reference to having gay sex all the time during the middle of a conflict with the Romulans? We want them to behave just like any other character on the show, but also happen to be gay. Show same-sex partners holding hands at dinner or living in the same quarters. Have them talk about their relationships. Show them kissing or hugging each other. You know, all the same things you take for granted as the normal day-to-day behavior of a heterosexual character on the shows, but gay instead. So exactly like the Willow and Tara relationship, which is why your "shoved their preferences down our throats" remark is —with all due respect (as you prepare to say something disrespectful)— bullshit and offensive.
LGBT people only want to receive the same treatment as everyone else and feel like they have a place in the optimistic and inclusive future of Star Trek too. Think of how many young black people have been inspired by Star Trek to see a better future for themselves. Is it really so much of a chore for you to come a little bit out of your comfort zone so that young LGBT people might be similarly inspired by seeing a depiction of a better future for themselves?
