Is time for a gay character to go boldly where none have gone before? Enterprise's Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer) certainly seems to think so.

"I haven't heard anything coming down the pipeline, but I would be in favour of it," Bakula told MetroSource magazine. "I would hope it would be handled in a great way. It would be wonderful if it was not such a huge issue, but was just there."

Bakula's predecessor in the big chair, Voyager's Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), agreed the issue was an important one. "It can be pushed, it should be pushed and it has been pushed by every actor I know of," the actress said.

Episodes of The Next Generation such as 'The Outcast' and 'The Host' briefly explored themes of gender identity, but a more on-the-nose attempt at addressing homosexuality - the first-season AIDS allegory 'Blood and Fire' - was shelved (story). Do the cast feel it is time for the franchise to finally address the issue?

"We've had a lot of exploration of heterosexuality," said Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), "but if you are going to explore sexuality then you have to explore what sexuality in on every level."

Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) thought Star Trek should catch up with the real world. "Given what growth and advancement has been made in the past 20 years even in the most rigid male bastions, one would have thought that Star Trek would be the ideal environment [for a gay character]."

To read the full article, pick up the February/March issue of MetroSource, on newsstands now. Alternatively, extracts are available here from PageSix.com.

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