Great Article: Star Trek Needs a Gay Character

[Hera]

Over on The Mary Sue I found a really good read on how Star Trek needs more variety in its sexual orientation - "Star Trek Needs a Gay Character"

http://www.themarysue.com/sulu-gay-trekkies/

If you like that the author has several articles like "Is 'Historical Accuracy' a good defense of patriarchal societies in fantasy fiction?"

Really good stuff.

[Kheren]

Indeed. very well written and interesting points of view.

Thanks for sharing this.

[Evshell]

The article on patriarchal societies in fantasy fiction makes me think of LotRO...

One reason I like LotRO is the fact that they portray female heroes as equal to male heroes. You won't find any clothing differences, or any distinction whatsoever in the game that distinguish men from women (you can even put a dress on a man if you want).

Despite the original male-dominated cast of the original books (which I would forgive Tolkien for due to the common thinking of the time), Lord of the Rings Online has made an effort to really recognize that women can be as empowered and capable as men in such a setting. Also, the clothing is quite gender neutral (and dresses can even be put on a man if so desired).

As with Tolkien, the Original Series was confined by the attitude of its day. Roddenberry was even given a choice between "the woman or the demon" indicating that he either choose the female first officer (called just "Number One" and played by Majel Barrett), or the alien first officer, Spock, who was defined by the network as a "demon" due to his pointy ears.

Certainly we've come along way in Star Trek, including the controversial topics of gender of Trills in DS9, and the 3rd neutral gender in Enterprise, and with 9 states plus D.C and Canada legalizing gay marriage, I can't think of a better character to represent such forward thinking to the new generation, assuming we get a show that is both true to Roddenberry's vision and entertaining at the same time.