“Printing business has First Amendment and RFRA right to refuse to print gay pride festival T-shirts” [Eugene Volokh] The Lexington Human Rights Commission had ordered employee training for a t-shirt printer that had objected to printing messages it disagreed with, but a Kentucky trial court judge threw out the order citing both the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Kentucky’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, here applicable to a corporation as defendant since it was an incorporated business that had been the target of the discrimination complaint. Compare the bake-my-cake cases, which have generally come out the other way. And see in the U.K., “Patrick Stewart backs bakery after ‘gay cake’ court battle”: Independent, Telegraph, Katherine Mangu-Ward/Reason.
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So Captain Picard decided that the Prime Directive covered the baker. Ever pondered the fact that in all the Star Trek series and movies, there was never a gay or lesbian character? George Takei may be gay, but Captain Sulu had a daughter.
Wfog. I’m sure they were there, but in the future nobody cares about your orientation.
Wfjag is mistaken re: the Star Trek series. Dr. Crusher fell for a Trill, before the Trill changed bodies to a female. While this appeared to be a common event for Trill, Dr. Crusher found she was not so inclined. Cisco had previously known the Trill called Dax as a male as well – but later had a relationship with Jadzia Dax (again, mirror universe). Setting aside the Trill, there was Odo’s race, who are seemingly asexual. Kia Nerys had a lesbian relationship with herself in the mirror universe. Obviously, Star Trek has a long history of cross-species relationships, beginning with Captain Kirk…
Perhaps he meant a main character who was either gay or lesbian as their primary or exclusive orientation?
I suspect the reality of the Star Fleet culture at large leaned closer to “nobody cares, preferences differ” than no gays or lesbians – at least, by the time of DS9.
Looking behind the curtain, Star Trek’s creator has been quoted discussing his homophobia, and the struggles he had overcoming it to any degree. Rumor has it, he planned to include at least one LGBT individual in Next Gen, but when he passed, creative control passed to Rick Berman, who (according to various sources) prevented that from occurring – whether from his own views or his beliefs as to what the studio and TV audience would allow is unclear. Ronald Moore says they simply failed at portraying LGBT individuals, and hints that the studio was sensitive even to seeing crew members in the background holding hands, etc in a way that might suggest their sexuality.
Complicated issue, and in part, a reflection of the times and the medium.
CarLitGuy: Thank you.
Of course Patrick Stewart favors free speech for bakers. He was, after all, a baker of “erotic” cakes on Saturday Night Live:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/sexy-cakes/n10536