The Final Frontier?
Shock Horror! We all know that Kirk and Uhura had the first interracial kiss on network telly... Star Trek has always been good at taking a jab at the world around by turning our global concerns into galactic ones. You don't have to be a genius to see that.
How come then in this the 21st century we are yet to see any Queers in space?
We have seen aliens of all kinds, a plethora of lumpy heads and tentacles, trans-dimensional, nano-probed and anal-probed. Yet never have we seen on the decks of Star Fleet or on the face of a any planet a trace of Queerness?
Hmmm...?
The Final Frontier isn't some point beyond our Solar System, no it seems to be something far closer to home. Forget the Alien movie title "In space nobody can hear you scream" it's more a case " In space nobody can hear if you're a Queen (or Lezzo)"
Yes people, Star Trek is Heternormative. Sad really, nothing else seems to be normative at all...Except sexuality. Why is that?
It doesn't really make sense.Or does it.
I have been doing a bit of research, fueled by my recent addiction of Star Trek and this ADSL line to the web. Seems that Mr Roddenberry had plans in the works for a queer character "It is entirely fitting that gays and lesbians 'will appear unobtrusively aboard the Enterprise - neither objects of pity nor melodramatic attention." ( in a 1994 interview). Alas he died and since then the machinations of the powers that be have stalled and halted any attempt to include a Queerbie in Star Fleet.
Even the stars of show have had some things to say.
Patrick Stewart, to The Advocate, August 22, 1995
"I've approached [Berman] many, many times over the years about getting a gay character on the show--one whom we could really love, not just a guest star. Y'know, we had blacks, Asians, we even had a handicapped character-- and so I thought, this is now beginning to look a bit absurd. And he said, 'In due time.' And so, I'm suspecting that on Enterprise they will do something to this effect. I couldn't get it done on mine. And I am sorry for that."
Yeah, me too Mr Stewart.
We have had bigomy and cogenitors, asexual and heterosexual, weird mating rituals and cloning. Surely it's not too much of a stretch to include a homo somewhere. It doesn't have to be a big deal, I am not talking an intergalactic Pride Parade, no need for rainbow flags hanging from the weapons array. I have no desire to see a Klingon gay couple tonguing wildly on the transporter deck or 2 hot Vulcan chicks dressed in leather chaps doing the wild thing in their lavender walled quarters (well maybe that one I can leave for my dreams) but you know what I mean, right? It's not a huge deal, the only reason it's a deal at all is because it's absence is obvious.
Maybe not for everyone out there, but from a Queer perspective it really blows. I am also sure some people would say "oh get over it",yet is being a sexual minority any different from another minority. Would the 'get over it' people say the same to a person of colour? Star Trek has made a habit of taking stuff and exploring it in the safety of Cosmic Lets-Pretend. So why can't it do the same with this little issue.
Signing off.
Dirty Double Dee from the Planet Bent in the Queer Nebula.
How come then in this the 21st century we are yet to see any Queers in space?
We have seen aliens of all kinds, a plethora of lumpy heads and tentacles, trans-dimensional, nano-probed and anal-probed. Yet never have we seen on the decks of Star Fleet or on the face of a any planet a trace of Queerness?
Hmmm...?
The Final Frontier isn't some point beyond our Solar System, no it seems to be something far closer to home. Forget the Alien movie title "In space nobody can hear you scream" it's more a case " In space nobody can hear if you're a Queen (or Lezzo)"
Yes people, Star Trek is Heternormative. Sad really, nothing else seems to be normative at all...Except sexuality. Why is that?
It doesn't really make sense.Or does it.
I have been doing a bit of research, fueled by my recent addiction of Star Trek and this ADSL line to the web. Seems that Mr Roddenberry had plans in the works for a queer character "It is entirely fitting that gays and lesbians 'will appear unobtrusively aboard the Enterprise - neither objects of pity nor melodramatic attention." ( in a 1994 interview). Alas he died and since then the machinations of the powers that be have stalled and halted any attempt to include a Queerbie in Star Fleet.
Even the stars of show have had some things to say.
Patrick Stewart, to The Advocate, August 22, 1995
"I've approached [Berman] many, many times over the years about getting a gay character on the show--one whom we could really love, not just a guest star. Y'know, we had blacks, Asians, we even had a handicapped character-- and so I thought, this is now beginning to look a bit absurd. And he said, 'In due time.' And so, I'm suspecting that on Enterprise they will do something to this effect. I couldn't get it done on mine. And I am sorry for that."
Yeah, me too Mr Stewart.
We have had bigomy and cogenitors, asexual and heterosexual, weird mating rituals and cloning. Surely it's not too much of a stretch to include a homo somewhere. It doesn't have to be a big deal, I am not talking an intergalactic Pride Parade, no need for rainbow flags hanging from the weapons array. I have no desire to see a Klingon gay couple tonguing wildly on the transporter deck or 2 hot Vulcan chicks dressed in leather chaps doing the wild thing in their lavender walled quarters (well maybe that one I can leave for my dreams) but you know what I mean, right? It's not a huge deal, the only reason it's a deal at all is because it's absence is obvious.
Maybe not for everyone out there, but from a Queer perspective it really blows. I am also sure some people would say "oh get over it",yet is being a sexual minority any different from another minority. Would the 'get over it' people say the same to a person of colour? Star Trek has made a habit of taking stuff and exploring it in the safety of Cosmic Lets-Pretend. So why can't it do the same with this little issue.
Signing off.
Dirty Double Dee from the Planet Bent in the Queer Nebula.
posted by D. at Tuesday, November 09, 2004
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