Discovery gay couple
Another controversy that cropped up in Star Trek: Discovery's first year was the death of Wilson Cruz's Doctor Hugh Culber, one-half of Star Trek's first openly gay couple.
Following Culber's shocking and violent death in the episode "Despite Yourself", the exhibit came under fire from furious fans for allegedly resorting to the offensive "Bury Your Gays" trope – an overused television plot device of killing lgbtq+ characters due to their perceived expendability compared to their heterosexual co-stars. While numerous articles were published aggregating upset fan reactions and threats to cancel CBS All Access, Discovery's producers and CBS, along with Wilson Cruz himself, countered the reaction with a publicity blitz aimed at mitigating the Bury Your Gays controversy.
Despite the twist development of Culber's death, Discovery's producers and Cruz made several statements to the press indicating that the doctor's death was, like many in the Star Trek Space, a temporary one. According to Buzzfeed, Star Trek: Discovery's producers, in fact, consulted GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance
How Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz Brought Same-Sex Love To Space
Ask Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp to name their favorite Star Trek series and traits, and you fundamentally get the equal answer.
&#;There are episodes of every series that are great,&#; says Rapp, who stars as Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets on Star Trek Discovery, the ship&#;s genius of an engineer. &#;But the one I ponder that had the biggest impact for me, because I saw the shows as a kid, was the imaginative series &#; and Leonard Nimoy as Spock.&#;
&#;I was going to say Spock!&#; interjects Cruz, who co-stars on Discovery as the ship&#;s deeply empathetic medic, Hugh Culber. &#;So now I&#;m going to give my second favorite answer: Next Generation. I really see a lot of Dr. Beverly Crusher and Guinan, Whoopi Goldberg&#;s character, in Dr. Culber. So those two characters are my favorite.&#;
On Discovery, a spectacular cornerstone of the increasingly indispensible Paramount+ streaming service, Stamets and Culber are a married gay couple, with all the romance and admire and friction and anxiety that comes with bei
Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz on 'Star Trek: Discovery' Coupledom
The fact that for the first time in the year history of "Star Trek," out gay actors are playing gay characters in love, is not something CBS, its stars or its creators are either hiding or promoting. But it is something they’re celebrating.
“I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of 'Star Trek' TV’s first homosexual couple,” actor Anthony Rapp of "Rent" fame told NBC News. “I can’t say how much that means to me personally as a fan of the series and as a member of the LGBT community.”
Rapp plays the prickly, grumpy genius anastromycologist Lt. Paul Stamets, which basically means he’s the foremost expert on fungus. And fungus gets far more screen-time than his same-sex relationship on the CBS All Access streaming show, which is just fine with Rapp.
“I’m satisfied of the fact that none of that really matters in the show,” Rapp said, describing the portrayal of their association as “alive, truthful and human.”
His on-screen partner and costar, Wilson Cruz, who plays Dr. Hugh Culber, called Rapp his “space boo” on stage
Content warning: strong language; description of violence; death; abuse; spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 of Star Trek Discovery
I will originate by briefly telling you what tragic gay inclusion is. I will construct a case that Star Trek Discovery has provided nearly exclusively tragic lgbtq+ representation in seasons 1 and 2. I will conclude by telling you why this is a problem.
What do I indicate by &#;tragic gay representation?&#;
I have written previously about what I have described as different &#;levels&#; of queer representation in media. Here I will highlight on tragic gay visibility, also known as the &#;bury your gays&#; trope.
When I talk about &#;tragic&#; representation, I don&#;t necessarily mean cases in which a queer person dies (although that happens often enough). By &#;tragic homosexual representation,&#; I mean voice in which gay characters are denied a delighted ending. While this happens to trans and bi queer people as adequately, I will mostly be talking about gay visibility here, as the specific characters involved in Star Trek Discovery are queer and lesbian, and dif