10 MORE Notorious Star Trek Urban Legends
7. Roddenberry's Homophobia Kept Gays Out Of The Final Frontier
When asked in the eighties as to whether or not the next Star Trek series would feature gay characters, Gene Roddenberry replied in the affirmative, stating that it wouldn't be an issue by the 24th century. However, this sadly didn't turn out to be the case. David Gerrold, author of The Trouble with Tribbles, wrote a script called Blood & Fire for the Next Generation, which was repeatedly stonewalled by Roddenberry's lawyer, Leonard Maizlish.
However, when quizzed on the subject of gay people before he died, Roddenberry was frank. He said that in his youth, he had used derogatory slurs about gay people knowing full-well the impact that they would have. In his older years, he reflected on the fact that people should be allowed to live their lives as they saw fit. When he died, Maizlish had long since been barred from the sets, and some attempt was made to introduce LGBTQIA+ characters.
Episodes like The Outcast and The Host were attempts to discuss transgender and same-sex relationships, though neither went far enough. The first same-sex pairing occurred in Deep Space Nine, though it would take until Star Trek: Discovery to have two openly gay characters, Stamets and Culber, as part of the main crew from the jump.