Star Trek writer wishes he’d included gay roles
Star Trek writer and producer Brannon Braga says he regrets not including gay characters in the TV series and films.
Speaking to After Elton, he said it was “a shame” that gay characters had not been included in the late 80s and early 90s.
Braga, who worked on the The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise, said there were no plans to include a gay character in his new show Terra Nova but added that it was “something we should be attending to”.
When asked by the website why Star Trek still had no gay characters, he said: “It was a shame for a lot of us that … I’m talking about the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and there was a constant back and forth about well how do we portray the spectrum of sexuality.
“There were people who felt very strongly that we should be showing casually, you know, just two guys together in the background in Ten Forward. At the time the decision was made not to do that and I think those same people would make a different decision now because I think, you know, that was 1989, well yeah about 89, 90, 91.
“I have no doubt that those same creative players wouldn’t feel so hesitant to have, you know, have been squeamish about a decision like that.”
Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek’s creator, built diversity into the show’s ethos by including a range of ethnic minority characters.
A kiss between Uhura and Kirk, broadcast in 1968, is often credited as the first interracial kiss on television.
However, Roddenberry never got around to including a gay character. In 1991, he told The Advocate that the fifth season of The Next Generation would at least include gay background characters. He died the following year.
