WI Mr. Sulu was gay in Star Trek?

I thinking your stretching here - as in bending the laws of physics, Captain. I believe in that episode he was infected with something. Also what does an interest in flowers have to do with anything?

That wooshing sound you hear about a foot above your head is the joke flying over.

Torqumada
 
I took an ethnic cinema class in college and there were coded ways of depicting characters as homosexual back then.

The creepy guy with the gloves from The Maltese Falcon, for example, was a biggie, as was the oysters/slugs dialogue in Spartacus.(snip)

Or North By Northwest where the villains sidekick says he "can't see the attraction" of the heroine. Or craziest (because the plot doesn't make much sense unless you manage to decode the hint) "A Streetcar named Desire" where Blanche drove her husband to suicide because "he was sensitive and liked poetry".
 
Or North By Northwest where the villains sidekick says he "can't see the attraction" of the heroine. Or craziest (because the plot doesn't make much sense unless you manage to decode the hint) "A Streetcar named Desire" where Blanche drove her husband to suicide because "he was sensitive and liked poetry".

Or 'The Seven Year Itch' when Marilyn Monroe's character comments that the two men living upstairs from her are interior decorators and probably not interested in her. ;)

Any portrayal of homosexuality on mainstream television in the 60's would have to be extremely subtle. We're already looking at an unstated rule in movies and television by that point that the Asian character never gets the girl. Making Sulu/Takei more open about his sexuality only compounds one unfair stereotype with another and the net result is even less progress: homosexuals are promoted at the expense of Asians (who, as one previous poster commented, finally had a truly heroic character in a major television program). And of course the network absolutely will not sign off on it, for fear of losing sponsors and affiliates. Money talks, compelling storylines and social progress be damned.

If the Star Trek revival that was planned in the late 70's had actually come to pass, then there might be more of an opportunity to bring Sulu out of the closet since the Stonewall riots had happened and the gay rights movement had already started in full force. A savvy network executive might even see it as a smart marketing move to draw in a demographic that tends to be affluent for the advertisers. Even then the portrayal would have to be subtle to make sure the affiliates don't jump ship. TNG and especially the later series had a much better shot at pulling it off and it's still possible to retcon Sulu as gay with the Star Trek reboot coming up. Enterprise tried but it was clumsy at best (in fitting with the series as a whole).

That said, I wonder if there weren't some subtle hints in some episodes. Sulu's bare-chested fencing was already mentioned. But what about his sadistic alter-ego in 'Mirror, Mirror'?

(on another note, Ray Bradbury producing Star Trek would have been interesting. The writing would have been a lot better in the third season, at least. With Isaac Asimov as a science advisor for some episodes, Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon turning in scripts and Robert Heinlein promoting the show favorably and giving tacit approval for a borrowed story idea in another script, I'm surprised Bradbury wasn't on the roster!)
 
Last edited:
I think another major negative point with it is that unlike other minorities what makes homosexuals different is all about sex and Roddenbury was not exactly big on sex aboard ship...
 
I think another major negative point with it is that unlike other minorities what makes homosexuals different is all about sex and Roddenbury was not exactly big on sex aboard ship...

Which at least could be attributed to a practical concern over effects on crew morale. (NOTE: whatever happened to that woman Kirk's bad side attacked after the transporter accident? He could never be in a position of direct authority over her with credibility again even if what transpired wasn't Kirk's fault. I would hope that she transferred to another ship/station and that Starfleet was sensitive to her concerns.) At most Sulu's hitting a different set of bars than most of the rest when the crew goes on shore leave, so for all we know the character was gay (or bisexual; one of the movies mentions that the character had a wife and daughter back on Earth) and keeping it to himself and his partner(s) out of a sense of professionalism.
 
That said, I wonder if there weren't some subtle hints in some episodes. Sulu's bare-chested fencing was already mentioned. But what about his sadistic alter-ego in 'Mirror, Mirror'?
:rolleyes: Sulu the character is heterosexual. As is his Mirror Universe alter ego. George Takei wasn't even out to anyone then.
 
:rolleyes: Sulu the character is heterosexual. As is his Mirror Universe alter ego. George Takei wasn't even out to anyone then.

Meant in irony only. George Takei coming out at that point would have killed his career. Certainly John Wayne wouldn't have costarred with him in The Green Berets (not that that movie was a high point for either actor's career). ;)
 
Keep in mind that the American Psychiatric Association considered homosexuality to be a mental disorder until 1973. Ergo, it is going to be impossible to present a gay or bi character on TV at that point, the studio execs (who wouldn't even allow a female first officer and nearly nixed Spock) would go bananas. The Next Generation might have been able to get away with it - there were plans to have have a gay minor character or two, but the closest they got was the hermaphrodite alien from one particular episode(who was paired off with Commander Riker - which says interesting things about him, as the aliens were said to 'inseminate fibrous husks' for reproduction, which if you think about it means that the particular alien s/he had plumbing more like a 'he', even if 'he' thought of him/herself as more of a 'she'.... you get the picture, these pronouns are confusing). Also, nowhere is it stated that Sulu ever got married. He does, of course, canonically have a daughter Demora, so he either was married or played around (a novel suggested exactly that, though the novels aren't canon).
 
Remember the original Star Trek was made in the 60's and the creators of Star Trek had a lot of problems keeping a Vulcan on the show. Having a gay character on Star Trek would be a non starter.
 
Top