The Reaction to a Lesbian in Stargate Universe
I want to start by saying that not all of the reaction to the news of an openly gay character on Stargate Universe has been negative. Many fans of the series have stood up to the bigotry that is spiraling around the internet. It is not necessary to respond to positive statements, but it is incumbent on me to respond to the negative ones.
I have decided to use comments from Scifi Wire because they have be responcible enough to remove the most vile, incendiary, and hateful comments from their site. These are some of the mild ones that remain.
Homophobia
Homophobia is the hatred, fear, stereotyping of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered. "Homophobia is just another form of sexism. For most people, their problem with GLBT people is that we do not fit nicely into the culturally acceptable gender roles assigned to us (Where is the Diversity in IDIC?)."
There are five main flavors of Homophobia exhibited in the comments:
Blatant Sexism
Incomprehension
Fear and Ridicule
Hetero-centrism
Vile Hate
Blatant Sexism
Creno demonstrates this problem well:
Woot! Hot lesbo action FTW! Let's see them make out. Make it happen guys (Scifi Wire).
The equation of a lesbian character with a perverse, masturbatory fantasy is a huge problem in our society. The notion that we are reducing a human down to nothing more than an object of puerile desire is repugnant!
The biggest problem with this comment is that they wanting their own ego stroked, and if the character were heterosexual, they would still be calling for meaningless sex for their own titilation.
Hopefully, the writers of the series will treat the character with more respect, and not succumb to the base lusts that would cheapen the series and rob it of the moral character the franchise has exhibted up to now.
Women are people and deserve respect regardless of their sexual orientation!
Incomprehension
Zaphod said:
I wonder why shows never announce characters who are "openly black" or "openly hispanic" or "openly heterosexual (Scifi Wire)?"
Most of the characters on Stargate (and all series) are assumed to be heterosexual.
Starting in the 1960's, many characters were "openly black" or "openly hispanic" for the first time and were announced as such. For decades, shows have incorporated characters dealing with racism or what it means to be an ethnic minority in society. While there have not been enough, they do exist.
Among the actors I have met, one of the most common complaints I hear is that their are not enough "Openly Female" or "Openly Asian" characters for them to play.
We need more honest portrayals of minority characters on Television and film, not less.
Fear and Ridicule
Someone claiming to be Warwick Sabin said:
Geez. Just change the name to "Stargay Universe" and be done with it.
The best would be if the other gay character was male and the two of them are the only ones on the show without anyone to hook up with.
Why not introduce an asexual character or someone who is a chronic masturbator (Scifi Wire)?
Really, Stargay Universe is the only thing you could think of to say?
First of all, it would be just as likely that the heterosexual characters would find themselves dealing with loneliness in a galaxy far, far away as it would for the homosexual characters.
Personally, I hope they treat the character with the same respect as they do the other characters. The franchise has never been about sex, but relationships have always played an important part.
The real Warwick Sabin contacted me disgusted about this comment:
Someone used my name to post the idiotic comment you quoted in your blog post.
I am very distressed about this, because the comment is disgusting and is the polar opposite of anything I would ever think or express.
It is lower than low that someone would attack another's honor and good name to say such vile things.
Hetero-centrism
Chris Shea said:
i personally dont wants gays in my shows but i dont want straight people either
i want peopel doign there job saving the world killing aliens helping people
cmon in 10 years of sg-1 there was barely any love stuff
they implied it and it was enought (Scifi Wire)
I bet none of the people upset about a lesbian on the show were upset about them flaunting Jack, Daniel, Carter, and Teal'c flaunting their sexuality, all of which played into the story.
Jack O'Neill was married and the death of his son is the reason he became involved in the Stargate Program. Not to mention his relationship with Carter and a couple aliens.
Daniel Jackson's wife was the only reason he continued his work with the SGC.
Shyla
Ke'ra/Linea
Sarah Gardner/Osiris.
Vala Mal Doran
Samantha "Sam" Carter had many relationships that played heavily into the plot arcs of the series.
Jack O'Neill
the Tok'ra Martouf
Orlin
Agent Malcolm Barrett
Narim
Pete Shanahan
Dr. Jay Felger
Jonas Hanson (her former fiancé)
Joseph Faxon (her husband of a possible future)
Teal'c's relationships with:
His wife Drey'auc
Shau'nac the temple priestess
Ishta the leader of the Hak'tyl
Vala Mal Doran was the most sexual character on the show
I haven't even finished with the major characters in SG-1, not to mention Atlantis. There was a lot of love stories in SG-1 and Atlantis. If one of the characters is gay, I can't imagine it being any different.
Vile Hate
Facepalm chose to attack the Mentally Challenged!
If nothing else sells your show, then bring in the lesbians.
I wonder when the Stargate Universe will introduce the first openly retarded character? Part of the Stargate initiative for the better integration of the mentally challenged into the work force, this openly dumb person will be in charge major decision throughout the entirety of the series.
Executive producer Brad Wright pointed out: "We no longer only depict villains, played by black actors in alien rubber costumes, as mentally deficient, we want to raise awareness for general stupidity anywhere. Our team of highly skilled writers is looking forward to the groundbreaking shift of paradigms a retard will bring to the show (Scifi Wire)."
My neice has Down's Syndrome. Personally, I would love to see Stargate or any series feature a reallistic portrayal on someone like her. Anything that would make a good story should be considered.
What does this mean for fandom?
It means we have a lot of work to do. Science Ficition is a genre that is suppose to be about IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination, progress, and Making a better world. The mere fact that people with such bigoted opinions can call themselves fans means that the writers have not been doing their job.
It is time to shake things up!