Discussing Star Trek's Lack of LGBT Representation
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2024 3:07 am
So, a few days ago IDW released a one shot comic meant to celebrate LGBT Representation for Pride Month and as such they made a cover for issue that show cased most of the major characters in Mainline Trek that have shown up over the last 50+ years.
So, this kinda bugs me mainly because it doesn't show Jadzia Dax but even if it did that would only bring the total number of characters on the cover to 12... And three of these characters weren't made LGBT until recently and if we count Dax 6 of these characters have either broken up and in 2 died and in Dax's case that was a death that stuck.
It's no secret that Trek has a bad track record when it comes to LGBTAQ+ Representation and while they have improved, more so then Star Wars even now it feels like the series is stuck in the past. Take Culber from Discovery, he died in season one and if I remember correctly he remained dead until the midpoint of Disco's second season.
Even if it was always intended for him to come back to life the fact remains that the series played into the Bury Your Gays trope and played it straight for I think close to a year. Over on Lower Decks Mariner ended up in a relationship with her fellow crew mate Jennifer in which we only got one episode of seeing them together as a couple and then they broke up at the end of season 3 and said relationship and breakup was barely talked about in Season 4.
7 of 9 has broken up with Raffi at least twice, Sulu in the Kelvin Timeline is only ever implied to be gay or bi, Chapel I think is only mentioned to be bi and Reno is basically demoted to extra in season 3. In fact I think the only characters in this cover who weren't in anyway screwed over in Trek is Adira who I think remains a major character throughout the rest of Discovery and them identifying as non-binary is stated flat out throughout the series.
And that's not even getting into the rumored Kirk and Spock romantic relationship which might not even be true despite all the Queer Coding around them throughout the series. It has to be stated that the characters are LGBT or it doesn't count.
As CharlesPhipps pointed out in their post on Discovery, that is the show to quote them
But what bugs me about Trek is that part of the series' message is the equal and fair treatment of all people regardless of race, gender or sexuality. But again, Trek is a series that feels like it's still trapped in the 90's when it comes to LGBT representation.
Disney has honestly been doing more with The Owl House and even some of their movies like Strange World and even Eternals. Sure the latter two aren't the greatest films ever made but the fact that they have gay leads who are open about being gay is commendable. Hell the fact that the company has done nothing to discourage fans from shipping Raya and Namaari or the idea that Elsa might be gay or ace is pretty impressive. Again, not great but it's something.
I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking this and at the very least Trek has been making progress and we do have more seasons of Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and maybe even other new series like the rumored Star Trek: Legacy coming out so we might get more as time goes on. I'd be open to that and even if it's not the best there's no argument that it is an improvement during the TOS and TNG Era.
So, this kinda bugs me mainly because it doesn't show Jadzia Dax but even if it did that would only bring the total number of characters on the cover to 12... And three of these characters weren't made LGBT until recently and if we count Dax 6 of these characters have either broken up and in 2 died and in Dax's case that was a death that stuck.
It's no secret that Trek has a bad track record when it comes to LGBTAQ+ Representation and while they have improved, more so then Star Wars even now it feels like the series is stuck in the past. Take Culber from Discovery, he died in season one and if I remember correctly he remained dead until the midpoint of Disco's second season.
Even if it was always intended for him to come back to life the fact remains that the series played into the Bury Your Gays trope and played it straight for I think close to a year. Over on Lower Decks Mariner ended up in a relationship with her fellow crew mate Jennifer in which we only got one episode of seeing them together as a couple and then they broke up at the end of season 3 and said relationship and breakup was barely talked about in Season 4.
7 of 9 has broken up with Raffi at least twice, Sulu in the Kelvin Timeline is only ever implied to be gay or bi, Chapel I think is only mentioned to be bi and Reno is basically demoted to extra in season 3. In fact I think the only characters in this cover who weren't in anyway screwed over in Trek is Adira who I think remains a major character throughout the rest of Discovery and them identifying as non-binary is stated flat out throughout the series.
And that's not even getting into the rumored Kirk and Spock romantic relationship which might not even be true despite all the Queer Coding around them throughout the series. It has to be stated that the characters are LGBT or it doesn't count.
As CharlesPhipps pointed out in their post on Discovery, that is the show to quote them
Today LGBT is getting more positive representation in shows and even in films with studios even pushing for more queer characters and to be open about it. Games and TV are the most notable examples with films still lagging behind but given that films depend greatly on the box office in China and Russia which are both country's that have the best recent track record when it comes to the treatment of the LGBT I can at least understand that even if I don't approve.no ST show has anywhere near the LGBTA representation and it blew them away all put together. It gave us a happily married couple in space, rare for any show.
But what bugs me about Trek is that part of the series' message is the equal and fair treatment of all people regardless of race, gender or sexuality. But again, Trek is a series that feels like it's still trapped in the 90's when it comes to LGBT representation.
Disney has honestly been doing more with The Owl House and even some of their movies like Strange World and even Eternals. Sure the latter two aren't the greatest films ever made but the fact that they have gay leads who are open about being gay is commendable. Hell the fact that the company has done nothing to discourage fans from shipping Raya and Namaari or the idea that Elsa might be gay or ace is pretty impressive. Again, not great but it's something.
I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking this and at the very least Trek has been making progress and we do have more seasons of Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and maybe even other new series like the rumored Star Trek: Legacy coming out so we might get more as time goes on. I'd be open to that and even if it's not the best there's no argument that it is an improvement during the TOS and TNG Era.
