Attention, Starfleet—September 8 is Star Trek Day, an anniversary of the day in 1966 that the Star Trek pilot episode, “The Man Trap,” premiered on NBC. “On that day, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry introduced audiences to a world that championed diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and hope,” the official Star Trek website explains.
And the franchise’s sexual and gender diversity has gone supernova recently, ever since the big-screen Star Trek Beyond established that John Cho’s version of Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu was in a relationship with a man.
Since then, the TV show Star Trek: Discovery gave us queer characters (Anthony Rapp’s Paul Stamets, Wilson Cruz’s Hugh Culver, and Tig Notaro’s Jett Reno) and trans and nonbinary characters (Ian Alexander’s Gray Tal and Blu del Barrio’s Adira Tal). And the TV show Star Trek: Picard paired Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine and Michelle Hurd’s Raffi Musiker in a romantic relationship.
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