Star Trek's Gay Episode Finally Gets Made

In addition to a revised script by Gerrold with Carlos Pedraza, also involved in the production will be D.C. Fontana, an associate producer from Next Generation, and Darren Dochterman, who was behind the visual special effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

"Producers did not want to address homosexuality in Star Trek even though the original series talked about race and war and drugs and hippie culture; they addressed all that stuff," Cawley says. "All the subsequent shows have been adventures in space. We have dared to [do] something that the franchise holders would never do. We are including an openly gay couple in the Enterprise, showing the world that it is a totally acceptable thing … in the future. The prejudice and the bias will be gone."

Cawley describes New Voyages, which he and Jack Marshall created in 2003, as "this fan project that has grown to enormous proportions." The most recent episode has been downloaded more than 30 million times. It is designed as a continuation of the original series with Cawley stepping into William Shatner's shoes as Capt. Kirk and Jeff Quinn as Mr. Spock, the role originated by Leonard Nimoy.

"I grew up when the only Star Trek was Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and they were being neglected," Cawley says. "I thought the property was like James Bond or Batman and Superman. It's not so much the actors but the characters. I think Star Trek has that universal appeal to everybody. To me the hook was … that we have a future that is worth getting to."

Paramount Pictures owns the legal rights to the Star Trek franchise but has traditionally allowed the distribution of fan-created material as long as there is no attempt to profit from it. New Voyages, which recreated the show's original sets, falls under this area.

For the young actors portraying the gay couple, they have the advantage of not having to recreate an iconic role made famous by another actor. Bobby Rice, 23, was cast as Peter Kirk after Cawley saw his performance on another web-based Star Trek project: Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, which is set in The Next Generation era of Star Trek. (It should be noted that Hidden Frontier has also included gay characters and story lines.)

"How cool is that?" says Rice. "It's pretty wild. I never thought I'd be a Kirk. I feel like what we are doing is fantastic and groundbreaking. It takes place in the future, and homosexuality should be generally accepted in the future. Star Trek has always been about tackling these kinds of issues, so it's a great place to have this story. The gay fan base has had a really positive reaction."

Although the episode has yet to shoot, Rice has already met his on-screen love interest, Lt. Alex Freeman, who will be played by 22-year-old Evan Fowler, when the two got together for a photo shoot.

"When I first read about the audition, I didn't even notice it was a gay role; I just saw Star Trek and thought it sounded cool," says Fowler, who beat out hundreds of other actors for the role. "But it being a gay part made it more intriguing. As an actor, you are always looking for more complex characters and to do something groundbreaking."

Fowler admits that he was far from a Trekkie before landing the gig, but he is making up for that now. "The more I ask people about Star Trek, the more I hear about the social undertones regarding race and social issues," he says. "The original script was very realistic but a little docile. The new one is up a notch, and the issues it tackles are even more prevalent today than when we wrote the original."

Fowler, who graduated last year from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in history and European studies, says he is quickly learning just how powerful being involved in the Star Trek franchise can be for an actor.

"People are taking notice of it and for me — being so new and not having much experience — it's the best situation you can put yourself into," he says. "The fans are so loyal and so interested in what's happening. You don't get that much in Hollywood."