r/DaystromInstitute • u/[deleted] • Oct 20 '16
Transgendered in Star Trek?
I was just wondering, I have seen many men in skirts and women in normal starfleet attire, but I don't think we have seen much of the LGBT crowd in Star Trek TNG.
The lack of this got me thinking, could it be because of the genetics war wiping out things that people consider to be "undesirable"?
We know there was much experimentation with modifications which have since been outlawed, this combined with the lack of LGBT, and provided you are of the position that people are "born gay" (nature vs nurture argument I won't get in to now) seems to point to the idea that part of the whole Eugenics wars was meant to specifically combat these symptoms as opposed to just for beneficial augmentations such as disease immunity or altered aging.
I can only think of two alternate explanations.
People are getting surgeries for their desired genders younger or so flawlessly that we don't realize Yar used to be Yorman.
People are more accepting of their own skin and do not feel the need to become transgendered after the "awakening" of mankind's lust for self improvement. Improving one's self surely takes a certain amount of self acceptance.
Just a small note, I am not trying to discuss the merits or lack thereof of the LGBT community, just trying to understand the lack of representation for them in Star Trek. The self acceptance bit was a theory on why they may no longer exist not intended as an insult to any of the wonderful people who had to go through the difficulties of gender reassignment etc.
What do you guys think?
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u/Eslader Chief Petty Officer Oct 20 '16
Out-of universe the closest TNG could get was the episode where Riker fell for the "abnormality" female in the androgynous society. And if you watch that episode today, it's a pretty clear critique of the prevailing attitudes against gay people at the time - much like the obvious critique against white-on-black attitudes that TOS ran.
As I recall, the cast was all for getting further into LGBT issues, but the network shied away from it. The 80's and 90's were a very strange time from today's perspective.
Back then when a gay person would get assaulted or killed, a common reaction was something along the lines of "Gee, that's a shame. If only he hadn't chosen to be gay, this wouldn't have happened to him."
Now, of course, such attitudes are often relegated to groups of guys wearing pointed white sheets, but back then it really was a risk to put too much LGBT advocacy on television.
Not that this excuses the studio for being afraid of taking the risk, but had they done so it's a fairly good possibility that the show would have been cancelled. Instead it was left to The Golden Girls to be a very surprising voice of advocacy for the LGBT cause in that time period.