Will Battlestar Galactica add a gay character? Should they?

Due to my recent trip, I'm only now getting caught up on everything I Tivoed while gone. One of the last shows I watched was the season finale of Battlestar Galactica. Coincidentally, the same day I happened to read The Advocate's article speculating that one of the show's secondary characters, Lt. Felix Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) might be revealed as gay in the season finale. He wasn't and as the third season came to an end, BSG still lacked any real same-sex content.

Some might argue the show did introduce characters who were at least bisexual when a relationship was revealed between Baltar (James Callis), Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer), and Number Three (Lucy Lawless). And by revealed, I mean shown in bed together like some straight boy's fantasy. We don't learn the dynamics of their relationship, how it is viewed by the rest of the fleet, and, of course, Number Three dies like all evil bisexuals must.

As we've documented numerous times, the supposedly progressive genre of science fiction has done a frakking lousy job of addressing same-sex issues while taking on numerous racial, gender, and political topics. (We mean you, Star Trek.) Many reasons are given for this, especially the notion that sci fi is for 18-25 year old straight boys who don't want to see anything about gay men. Okay, but I'm supposed to believe these guys are also interested in story lines about race, gender, or politics, but would fall apart over a gay character?

I also think this is letting BSG off the hook way too easily. This is a smart, daring show that basically turned the first half of this season into a commentary on the Iraq War, has previously allowed President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) to steal an election (and a baby), and has had pretty much every other character confront a whole host of thorny ethical issues. But the only way it can present same-sex issues is with a very stereotypical male-female-female three-way? I think we can--and should--expect better from this show.

This lack of same-sex representation is ironic because I'm hardly the only gay man out there who loves science fiction. When picking a book to read or a movie to see, sci fi and fantasy are always first on my list. As a matter of fact, I think one of the first moments I truly grasped I might be gay was reading a book set in the future where all of humanity lives in mile high sky scrapers and several of the men pair off together (alas, I can't remember the title). Indeed, I think sci fi is so appealing to so many gay men and lesbians because we long for the future where we believe same-sex relationships will be no big deal.

Here is hoping BSG manages to get it right next season. But I'm warning them now--they better not pull a Lost which gave us a recent gay revelation that was breathtakingly pathetic. And it's not like BSG doesn't have stories to tell about gay people that would be fascinating. After all, this a show where humanity verges on the edge of extinction. How about an ongoing storyline where a gay character is pressured to have kids in order to repopulate the human race? BSG already did an interesting look at the issue of abortion in such a world (yet another hot button topic the show hasn't shied away from covering).

I don't want to rag too hard on the show. Who knows what's been going on behind the scenes. Perhaps series creator Ronald Moore has been battling TPTB to bring a gay character to the program and ran into the same problem as Tim Kring did with Heroes. But it is the 21st century and when practically every sitcom manages to do a gay episode, it really is time for science fiction to catch up to the present. Otherwise, what's the frakking point of it all?