SEE Trek Love modifies petition for portrayals of gay characters in Star Trek

SEE Trek Love, an internet campaign (SEE stands for Social Equality Effort) that once featured a petition for a portrayal of an intimate relationship between main characters Kirk and Spock, has changed that petition to request any positive portrayal of gay and lesbian characters in forthcoming Star Trek movies.

"LGBT inclusion is and always has been the goal of SEE," reads a message posted on the SEE Trek Love website. "We made a miscalculation in how to proceed. The problem has been corrected, and the advice of all those who disagreed with our initial angle has been heeded...SEE now looks to the future; a future in which all peoples may coexist peacefully."

The Kirk-and-Spock pairing enjoyed in the imaginations of some fans was probably always going to stay right there in imagination, for the most part. Kirk and Spock were prominent in slash fiction when the form first became popular in the 1970s; the explosion in quantity of fan-produced slash since the advent of the Internet is part of the much larger phenomenon of fan fiction in general, not just in Star Trek but in all fandoms.

Small sparks of a Kirk and Spock pairing can be found in non-canonical licensed novels, however. The 1979 novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture includes a fictional "foreword" by Captain Kirk, written by Gene Roddenberry, playfully dismissing rumors of his sexual relationship with Spock. Della van Hise's 1989 Killing Time has some interesting moments.

Despite Gene Roddenberry's stated intention of including gay characters in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, it didn't happen, not even in Star Trek: Enterprise a decade and a half later. Roddenberry's position was that in the future, the sexuality of consenting adults will be a non-issue; but while the idea of gay characters and situations blending easily into the Star Trekenvironment was endorsed by many Star Trek series actors, including Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Whoopi Goldberg and Scott Bakula, there was always a producer or a network executive to get in the way.

To help things along, here are a few suggested pairings that shouldn't raise any eyebrows in the 23nd-century timeline of your choice:

Scotty and Keenser, his little green alien friend on Delta Vega - this one's already fairly obvious

Kirk and himself - truly a lifelong ambition

Spock and Christine Chapel - she nails him, she dumps him. No soup for you!

Guinan and a omnisexual polyamorous group - remember, her species is long-lived, so she could show up in the Kirk era, and she'd likely be up for something pretty advanced by early-21st-century standards

Sulu and some gorgeous man - he might want to wait for Chekov to get a little older...

http://www.examiner.com/x-11230-Star-Trek-Examiner~y2009m9d4-SEE-Trek-Love-modifies-petition-for-portrayals-of-gay-characters-in-Star-Trek