Doctors in Star Trek: Hugh Culber in Star Trek: Discovery

Abstract

Homophobia, prejudice against homosexuals, and heteronormativity the belief that heterosexuality is normative, have both decreased over the decades. Until recently, both were common in Star Trek. This is surprising since while ostensibly writing about the future, cultural norms from the 20th and 21st centuries were still imposed on these narratives. Star Trek: Discovery is the most recent series in the francise (commenced in 2017) and is set circa a decade before Captain Kirk's five year mission in the Star Trek timeline. This is the first series to deliberately include homosexual couples within the Star Trek universe for the first time in its decades of existence. Discovery depicts the ship's chief engineer and ship's physician as a happily married male couple who are acknowledged and accepted in their marriage, with their own living quarters. This a simple and highly effective way to include queer people. Once again, the doctor has taken the series into an avenue where no other Star Trek series has gone before.