Huh, thats kinda interesting.

[Mikkiness]

Ok, I was just wandering around the net, when I found this little gem.
http://www.webpan.com/dsinclair/idic.doc
An essay on Sexual Diversity in Star Trek written by James Sheldon. Page 8 actually says that Spock was originally meant to be played by a female, which is rather interesting as I can guarantee that if Spock had been a female, (S)he would have been a love interest. Page 9 also has a table on their complementary qualities, even though the attitudes shown are rather horrifying, its still interesting to look at.

[Twisted Fiction]

Wow, that essay is very interesting. I thought it brought up a lot good points and quotes. I especially enjoyed the quote by Gene Roddenberry that said:

"’I’m sorry I [Gene Roddenberry] never had a homosexual relationship,’ he remarks pensively, out of the blue, one afternoon, ‘because I know that there must be many joys and pleasures and degrees of closeness in those relationships. I think that I have in a way been cursed by having picked my particular time period and background and so on, because I have no doubt that I am capable of homosexualism… as a matter of fact, remind me, I’m in the midst of making a decision about homosexuality—male and female—and how we are going to treat it on Star Trek, the lovely ways in which we will treat it—without defying present average conditions"

It is very sad that the producers and studio decided not to include gay characters after Mr. Roddenberry's death.

[MrEccentric]

...............

[art.nerd]

*is caught up of how much injustice there is in this world*

*agrees with how much injustice there is in this world*

[Oni]

More and more I am falling in love with Roddenberry. I know I loved him before, but If he was alive now imagine all that he could have been able to do :D

[Pirate College Graduate]

Ah Gene, why'd you have to go? Now we have to fight the likes of...JJ? I don't quite know who we're fighting, if you could call it that. Um, THE MAN. We're fighting THE MAN.

[Xerxies]

I miss Gene. He was a great man. And he would have done great things. BUT THEN HE JUST HAD TO DIE. AND NO ONE BOTHERED TO SEE TO HIS WISHES.

[TheBrownRecluse]

If we were fighting a person, it'd be easy. But we're fighting injustice. It is an abstract concept, and thus much more difficult to eradicate.

But you can call it the Man. If you'd like. ;)

[Chaos]

That would of been interesting if Spock was a female. But Star Trek wouldn't be what it is today I suspect.

[TheLoyalOne]

I believe the specific people we're fighting are the executives and producers from Paramount Pictures mostly. They're the ones who own a lot of Star Trek right now and the ones who rejected putting LGBT characters into the shows since Gene Roddenberry's death or even make a mention of such relationships. The one time some writer/actor honestly tried to put in a LGBT character, Elim Garak of DS9, someone(s) went nuts and that aspect was dropped from the character when they brought him back later. I'm pretty sure that the only reason the scene where Garak introduces himself (and is hitting on Bashir) was kept is because he had a part to play in the episode.

[spookyfbi]

It raises the question of whether a relationship between the Kirk body with Lester’s mind with a women would be a heterosexual or homosexual one. Fortunately for our brains, the producers didn’t write in any sexual relationships into that episode.

It did imply that there was something between Lester and that guy who's name I can't remember. There was a scene between him and Lester-in-Kirk's-body, with Shatner being all *trying to imply a relationship because he's technically playing a woman but at the same time trying not to overtly imply the relationship because they are actually two men and the censors probably said no to this scene anyway* Interestingly, he does this by touching the guy on the arm, like Kirk often does with Spock, which, needless to say, is a Very Interesting Choice.

I also found the TNG episode with Crusher & Odan annoying in its bullshittery. Really Beverly, you can't deal with changes? So I suppose that Jean-Luc was always bald, then, was he? Well gee, I sure do hope he doesn't gain a few pounds, or find himself the victim of a disfiguring accident or disease, because surely it'll be dumpsville for him too, huh? *headdesk* I wasn't even into slash when I first saw it, but I still couldn't believe that physical appearance could mean so much if she really did truly love Odan the way she claimed.

[Sussy]

Not sure where to put this now, but since I found it Interesting I thought perhaps here would do.

I found this which includes the column and the bit below I quoted--its old, but still relevant to discuss, I think.
http://www.webpan.com/dsinclair/latimes.html


I read with a sense of pleasant surprise Ruth Rosen's column about the vision of "Star Trek" (Column Left, Oct. 30). She very correctly points out that we preached non- interference in the affairs of other civilizations while simultaneously practicing gunboat diplomacy. We "stood for democracy" but backed our own ideals "with weapons of mass destruction." We did preach racial equality, while doing stories about prejudice within our own ranks. And it is entirely fitting that gays and lesbians "will appear unobtrusively aboard the Enterprise - neither objects of pity nor melodramatic attention."

My satisfaction with Rosen's perceptions stem from the fact that while recognizing the dichotomies, there is a strength revealed in "Star Trek's" ability to confront and work with the flaws within our own house. And yes, as Rosen points out, "hostilities with the irrational Klingons seemed as interminable as America's global struggle with communism." This specifically is the issue raised in what will be the final motion picture of the series, "Star Trek VI, the Undiscovered Country," which opens in December.

LEONARD NIMOY
Beverly Hills

[spookyfbi]

Lol, I love the comparison of gays & lesbians to Klingons. ZOMG Noez, scary gays & lesbians threatening our heterosexuality!
...I know it probably wasn't meant that way, but it made me laugh...

[Sussy]

Doubt it is meant that way if you read over the entire article it refers to, I don't think. The article had stuff in there about the political climate at the time of the movie as well as that comment, which I emboldened.