Conservative activist wants gay Star Trek characters to ‘cure’ their homosexuality
Right-wing activist Peter LaBarbera has suggested that Star Trek should ‘balance’ the number of gay characters on TV by having some ‘ex-gay’ characters.
Star Trek: Discovery, which debuted last months, is the first TV show in the franchise to feature an openly gay couple onboard the starship.
Rent star Anthony Rapp plays science officer Lieutenant Paul Stamets, while Wilson Cruz plays his partner, medical officer Dr. Hugh Culber.
But Peter LaBarbera, the founder of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, is not impressed.
Speaking on radio station VCY America, LaBarbera claimed that the media should include more characters who have cured themselves of homosexuality for balance.
He said: “The homosexual activists are never satisfied, they always want more, more, more. We have yet to see an ex-gay, a former homosexual prominently portrayed in Hollywood.
“This is more activism, and I guess all we can do is not watch Star Trek.
“I wasn’t going to watch it anyway, but certainly with this sort of propaganda. I think Americans are tired of it. They’re tired of all the political correctness, and that’s why Trump won in the first place.
“You can throw up your hands and say, I can’t do anything about it, but the other side never stops fighting. There is a battle between good and evil in this country.
“Do something… call your congressmen. We’re going to be talking about the Equality Act, very dangerous legislation from homosexual activists.
“Say you oppose this homosexual legislation that make it easier for homosexual activists to persecute people of faith for opposing this juggernaut which calls itself ‘gay’.”
Of course, LaBarbera’s claim that “we have yet to see an ex-gay, a former homosexual prominently portrayed in Hollywood” is untrue.
2015 film ‘I Am Michael’ starred James Franco as ‘ex-gay’ activist Michael Glatze, who claimed to have cured his homosexuality after becoming an evangelical Christian.
The film, which also featured Zachary Quinto, was a commercial flop, and only secured a limited release.
Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS All Access in the US and Netflix globally.
JJ Abrams’ Star Trek film series – which takes place in an entirely different continuity to the rest of the Star Trek universe – recently caused a storm by retroactively revealing that beloved character Mr Sulu is gay.
Mr Sulu, played by Takei in the original series and John Cho in the reboot films, was shown embracing his daughter and husband in 2016 release Star Trek: Beyond.
Despite lengthy discussion of Sulu’s sexuality prior to the film’s release, a kiss between the character and his husband was axed from the final cut of the film – reportedly a last-minute decision that led to accusations of pandering to censors around the world.
Takei said at the time he would prefer new characters to be added, rather than “twisting” the original universe.
He said: “Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted.”
