Star Trek

The galaxy class was the cruise liner, everything else is function over form, a bit more industrial and submarine-like

Maybe he's from the MU

Dun dun dun

The Next Generation rewatch continues. Last nights episode was "The Outcast". It was doing so well looking at LGBT rights etc. until it shat the bed in the last two minutes with "never mind all that shit, conversion therapy works".

I don't recall with that episode specifically, but I remember rewatching a few years ago and being surprised just how many episodes concluded with downer endings. Quite regularly they would have to make compromises no one was happy with or cave into not interfering with a culture/jurisdiction even if they strongly disagreed with it.

Was counter to my memory of it pretty much always being all smiles as the Enterprise flew off.

Yes, he did say that apparently. Yeah, the nobody but the system wins ending was definitely a bit shit. At the very least they could have had her get some support and stay behind to further a rights movement or somesuch. 

Also, Geordies beard looks stupid.

That's not the vibe I got from that. The thing is, there are people who after going through conversion therapy either claim to have been "cured" or, even worse, actually believing they are. Believing they're free from sin now, having found back to God again, and will tell others who are afraid of conversion therapy that it works and they're happy now and it will help them to find back to God too. It's horrific.

That's the connection I made when watching that scene, I thought "oh my God what did they do to her", not "what, it's supposed to work?". I believe that was the writer's (Jeri Taylor) intention, but admittedly, assuming that this is the case, the episode doesn't do a great job at making that clear.

The original script describes her as "detached" and "disconnected" in that scene, strengthening my belief that it was intended to signify some sort of brainwashing or lobotomy or whatever that erased her identity. Earlier in the episode, she tells Riker how there was a boy at school who was "treated" and was then put in front of the class to tell the others how happy they were now that they're "cured". She tells him how terrified she was and I thought that was meant to be justified fear. I could be wrong, but that's how I read it.

But even if the writer intended something doesn't necessarily mean the director, producers, other people involved in making the episode honour that intent, which admittedly does raise questions about what the episode as shown on screen is trying to do. In this case, very notably, Riker explicitly mentions sexual orientation in the script, but that was cut from the final episode. What's more, the script describes the J'naii as "strikingly attractive, with lithe, slim bodies and chiseled, delicate features". I think it's pretty clear that the on-screen design tried to do the opposite, trying their best to make these genderless people drab and grey and unalluring.

Which all ties into the oppressively cishet-normative nature of Classic Trek, especially in the Berman era that not just ignored, but actively erased the existence of LGBT+ people, following Rick Berman's no-gays-in-space mantra. In Classic Trek, there are exactly two kinds of humans: men (they dig women) and women (they dig men). Nothing else exists. Highlighted e.g. in "The Offspring" before Lal chooses a gender:

And so, if writers wanted to say something about homosexuality, they didn't (at least not only) have to fight network execs, but their own boss. Which may or may not have played a role in e.g. this episode's dubious decision to represent gay people oppressed by straight people with cishet people oppressed by non-binary people.

Sorry for all the going on a tangent. But coming back to the original issue, what I believe to see here is an intent to say something against conversion therapy, but perhaps not being clear enough about it, with probably both writer and higher-ups playing a part in that. And even TNG's single one "gay episode" being a showcase of one of the most unfortunate traits of Classic Trek.

She did identify as female and heterosexual before she met him

Yeah I mean it's 30+ years old. The idea of different gender identities didn't really exist.

Are Stamets and the doctor from Discovery the first real definitely gay characters on Star Trek?

Bashir and O'Brien don't count.

Have to love the "I do like Ezri... But I like you more" comment from Bashir though.

Sulu shown with his partner in Star Trek Beyond (2016) was the first, shortly before Discovery (2017). Prior to that, to my knowledge the mere existence of gay people had never even been mentioned on-screen.

Off-screen, Gene Roddenberry confirmed the existence of gay people in the TMP novelisation (there may have been other instances, but it's the one I know of, and probably the "most official", given that it's written by Gene). It's an awkward section explaining that fan theories about Kirk and Spock being a couple were untrue, however Kirk does emphasise that being gay is perfectly fine and notably he's not offended by being mistaken for gay. It reads awkwardly today, but considering it was 1979 I guess that was pretty progressive. And it was 37 years before on-screen Trek did it.

Yeah, it's because apparently they have still feelings from the (heterosexual) relationship between their former hosts. By Classic Trek standards that's pretty bold, but still no case of someone simply being gay.

Mirror Kira may deserve a mention because she seems to have the hots for her prime counterpart. I believe that's the closest Classic Trek ever got, but of course only in the form of the depraved bisexual evil queen trope. No gays/bis in the prime universe though.

It's fairly well known that Gene was all aboard the ethnic diversity train but he left his gender equality car at home.