# Why no gay Star Trek characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362 "2006-04-19T21:06:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362/61 "2006-04-20T23:30:12Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Richard Matheson? Cool. Where did you find the draft? From a guy on ebay. We both post on the TrekBBS–I can put you in contact with him if you wish. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362/62 "2006-04-21T00:05:08Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Encounter at Farpoint, Part One. > > The “skant” wearing male crewman was seen for a moment near the beginning of the episode, while Picard was giving us a voiceover describing this fabulous Galaxy class starship. And what makes you think that has anything to do with homosexuality? Apparently, one optional uniform of the era showed a lot of leg. Deanna wore a minidress in that ep, & Picard’s dress uniform, shown later in the series, was pretty drafty, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362/63 "2006-04-21T00:13:13Z")
The skant was simply a unisex uniform. It was dropped after the first few episodes because it looked silly (and too '60s, I thought). However, one of those extras you see was actually a member of the show’s crew who had lost quite a bit of weight and wanted to show off his trim new figure. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362/64 "2006-04-21T02:28:13Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > And what makes you think that has anything to do with homosexuality? My fault for mentioning it. OBviously it had nothing to do with homosexuality. I meant that Roddenberry wasn’t opposed to different cultural ideas, but as I understood it, thought that a homosexual preference in the perfect Trek world would be like a preference for blondes or the missionary position and not worthy of mention. May have been propoganda on Roddenberry’s part. Gerrold seems to be pretty bitter about it. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362/65 "2006-04-21T13:04:57Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Didn’t Riker fall for a hermaphrodite of some sort? I mean, it was pretty lame as a gay-themed episode but it was something. The actor polaying the alien was obviously female, and the character was supposed to be a heterosexual hiding “her” orientation, as it was considered an undesirable deviancy among her own people. IIRC she probably didn’t have conventionally female parts down there, as her race reproduced by dancing around a big pod or some other such nonsense. Maybe she had a penis-like organ? Did Riker even know? I wish I could remember. [The Outcast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outcast_%28TNG_episode%29) All of the J’Naii were portrayed be female actresses. Jonathan Frakes has said that he thought Soren should have been portrayed as more male. Also in [The Offspring](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Offspring_%28TNG_episode%29) Whoopi Goldberg refused to say “When a man and a women are in love” changing her line to “When two people are in love”. An attempt was made to have male-male and female-female couples sitting at tables in the background but executives showed up pn stage. In the DS9 Mirror Universe every woman seemed to be bisexual (for survival) and Garek was hinted at being Worf’s lover. Having villians show attraction to the same-sex has been a staple of fiction for a long time. While listening to the podcast for ENT’s 2-part series finale I almost choked when Coto said Gannet was originally going to be male, then they mentioned Hoshi originally had Travis’s subplot. :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-gay-star-trek-characters/353362.md?page=3)