Okay like I’m not gonna lie.
It’s really upsetting to me that George Takei is openly against Sulu being gay in Star Trek Beyond.
Like I respect he’s allowed to have opinions on a character he once played but I 10000% agree with Pegg that introducing a new character and making them gay ran the very likely risk of them becoming The Token Gay. It takes a lot of time to establish a new character and if you introduce a character and the first thing you know about them is that they’re The Gay One then that’s all the average audience is gonna absorb about them. They’re the Gay Character. That’s it.
But when you reveal that a long standing, established character, with a long history, also happens to be gay, like that’s a big fucking deal.
And not only that but this great, well loved character is a POC, and not only is he gay but he’s married, with a child.
That makes a statement. That sends an important message to the audience. Queer people are everywhere. They’re your barista and your taxi driver and your doctor and your lawyer and your neighbor and your friend.
And now they’re the senior helmsman of the USS Enterprise.
Headcanon 1: Lestrade
Lestrade’s father was French. His grandparents had a restaurant in Aigues-Mortes, in the Camargue, and the young Greg spent many of his school holidays there, learning to ride (horses and motorbikes), speak French and cook up a storm. Give him any three ingredients and he can feed the gods. He is very fussy about his coffee and his whisky, but has an irrational liking for raspberry-jam-filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
In his youth, he was into punk rock, and his off-duty clothes now include a collection of original band t-shirts (that he can still squeeze into), red converse, his old scuffed and ripped leather motorcycle jacket, and one diamond ear stud. He played bass in a punk band at school and still likes to jam with anyone who is handy. He loves punk, but is a gnarly bass player and can actually put a good bottom on anything. This has been useful in undercover work as a roadie (for the Yard) and as a session musician (for MI6).