I've only recently discovered Battlestar Galactica (nearly at the end of season 2 now) and I keep shouting at lt Gaeta to come out already! The man hardly does anything, but he screams "gay" to me. Surely it would take little effort to have anyone, even a minor character, comment about missing their boy/girlfriend who's dead on whatever planet. There. You don't even have to include a real relationship.

As for Dr Who, (SPOILERS for season 2)

 The gay character was in a parallel universe, in love with Ricky, *that* universe's version of Rose's on/off-boyfriend Mickey. Ricky then dies and I think Mickey decides to stay behind in that universe. The hints were very, very clear, but I think they might have judged it too confusing to suddenly have Mickey -who always pined after Rose like a lovesick puppy- lock lips with another guy.

Because a lot of sci fi like Star Trek, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica etc. don't have quite the numbers that some of them do (like Lost and Heroes), they may be worried about alienating what audience they have.  That of course does not explain Lost and Heroes (although the latter is adding a lesbian cheerleader next season).

But I have always found it interesting that despite this lack of gay characters in sci fi, it is in this genre that "slash" fiction (for the unaware, fanfiction depicting straight characters as gay or in gay relationships), is the most popular.  I have found that science fiction fans seem to be very gay-friendly.  The most interesting aspect of this is that a lot of science fiction shows actually play up the implicatory side of the relationships seemingly in order to fuel this kind of speculation.  For example, on Stargate Atlantis, one of the most popular slash couples was told to "just make out already and get it over with".  The show seems gay friendly at other times, such as when the main male protagonist asked another character if he had anyone special.  When the second man asked "you mean like a woman?", the first man said "or a man..."  They seem willing to throw in implication and acknowledgement of gay relationships, but there have still been no (out) gay characters.  It is a phenomenon that occurs a lot more in sci fi than in other genres.  Any opinions as to why this is?

I haven't watched Dr.Who or the new Battlestar, but I'm an avid fantasy/ sci-fi fan and still feel that in a broad general sense that the genres have grown more sympathetic to GLBT audiences, but has yet to be "out and proud".

Thinking back... I can only come up with a few characters that I know specifically in sci-fi and fantasy that had LGBT relationships, but they are all women.

I know that Xena flirted with a lesbian relationship for a while (with her traveling companion, Gabrielle), but don't know all my facts. I think that they were more "soul mates" and therefore had some "higher level" of love for one another.  I don't think the show ever suggested or showed the two in a mature, sexual relationship.  I think of her more as a bi-sexual character... and I think at the end of the series she was killed? OUCH! She ended up sacrificing herself to "save the world"! (but with the suggestion that this is only one of many lives her spirit will live out.) I suppose that's not too bad?

One of my favorite sci-fi caracters, Susan Ivanova (played by the lovely and talanted Claudia Christian) on the 90's TV show Babylon 5 was shown having a lesbian lover, Talia Winters (although this is open to some debate as it's not explicitly stated anywhere).  Ivanova also had relationships with men, but regardless if it was with a man or with a woman, every one of them ended terribly.

I don't know of any current fiction, but I do know that there was a character named Lieutenant Hawk who had a boyfriend named Ranul Keru in the Star Trek novel titled, Section 31: Rogue (1996) ,written with by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin. As for GLBT characters on the Star Trek TV show or in movies... again, not sure, but I do know there was a character on Deep Space Nine named Jadzia Dax.  Jadzia was a TRILL, a race that was essentially comprised of a current host body inhabited by the personalities of all past hosts... both male and female.  So there was a huge deal made when Jadzia met an old flame from her previous host body and made out with another female.  But that was all I remember and I think it ended after that episode because it was forbidden in Trill society to re-establish past host relationships.  **Humph!**

Let's hope that in the near future as the genre continues to grow, that movies and television get the guts to have a full-on, mature, lasting. and well written fantasy or Sci-Fi character(s)!!

They were in a parallel universe which was very heavy on storyline. The parallel universe Mickey's relationship with another man would have been only a throwaway line, and since Russell T. Davies felt the relationship was not being given enough respect, he junked it.

In the third season, there was a very clear reference to an elderly lesbian couple (this was in the "Gridlock") episode, and both his shows are generally heavy with gay characters or bisexual interaction.

I have no idea why this was put in a category with a show like "Lost", which runs far and away from gays, or BS(G), where the overrated hack who writes that show says he has no room for gays, but has no problem with ugly Baltar having 3ways with two women.

Sci-fi is run by nerdy, repressed straight men, and most of the viewers are the same demographic. Many of them hate gays just as much as James Dobson does.

Actually, Dr Who has been criticised in some quarters for being too queer-friendly. It's certainly camp at times but current producer feels it should be a show for kids, so I guess that makes sense.

*SPOILERS*

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As well as the elderly lesbian couple in "Gridlock" that Jon pointed out, the guest hero for "The Idiot's Lantern", an unassuming adolescent boy was portrayed as queer whereas one of the indicators that his father was a villain was that he was portrayed as homophobic.

Also, in the recent "Human Nature/Family of Blood" episodes, which were set in a 1913 English boarding school, relationships between some of the students could have been read as queer by modern audiences (though not necessarily in the context of the era the episode was set in)

And of course, The Doctor himself has kissed Jack in "The Parting of the Ways" (albeit non-romantically) and also commented that, in the future, sexuality will be considered pretty fluid (in the "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" episodes)

And, as Jakob points out, spin-off Torchwood is rife with same-sex attraction and activity. Notably, the early season suggestions of a romance between Jack and Gwen got seemingly waylaid into a Jack/Ianto pairing - which was admittedly incredibly clumsily handled (as a mere four episodes prior Ianto was hating Jack).

Rumour has it that the Doctor's new companion for Series Four may be a male - which will inevitably give rise to lots of slash. Personally, I doubt it - but you never know...

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I dont know if this needs spoilers or not, but best to play it safe! I think that the doctor needs a male assistant just to break from tradition. He did have a semi male assistant in season 1, but unfortunatly he got an evil clappy thing in his head.

I just hope that by giving him a male assistant they don't get to male heavy and just have them blowing things up all the time (the women tend to keep him grounded and definately make him tap into his emotions!)

I read somewhere that Martha is going to join torwood for three episodes later on in season 2 and I hope that they really give her the room to grown because I always felt that she was a little bit shadowed on Dr Who by Rose's shadow *even the master mentions that she doesn't live upto roses memory as an assistant*

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But as a gay guy who loves sci-fi and fantasy I think that Jon is right, most of it's written by str8 nerds who don't quite know what to do with gay characters or storylines, the only exception I can think of being Joss Whedon who gave us Willow and Tara, which was great but theres always been the speculation that Angel and Spike had a thing together. (Would LOVED to have seen that in a flashback episode) which just falls back on the steriotype that when it comes to nerds lesbians are ok, but gays are just a touch too scary to do more than hint at.

James
xxx