The following is a reply by Ronald D. Moore, dated 7/16/97 to a fan question if we would see "Exploration of the sexuality of one of the regular male characters" on DS9. source: Star Trek News
"Exploration of the sexuality of a male character seems to imply discovering that one of our regulars is bi or gay and we have no plans to do so, chiefly because dealing with one's sexual orientation in Gene's 24th century is kinda simple: 'Hey, Captain, I think I might be gay.' 'Okay. Now get back to fixing those transtators.' "
It's not really an issue to these people, so "exploring" it doesn't hold much promise. I liked "Rejoined" precisely because it did *not* explore Dax's sexuality, it simply presented it in the context of a love story and let the viewer deal with their own feelings about it.
You could argue that we *should* do more stories in this vein and that maybe more tales about homosexuality in the 24th century would be a good thing, and I wouldn't argue with you. But it's not something that we're *interested* in at the moment. That's our prerogative -- we're TV writers, not social engineers. We don't have a defined list of "goals" or "causes" that must be advocated or explored as part of our mandate. We write about what interests *us* and yes, you can say that we're influenced by our own tastes and our own sometimes limited perspectives. But that also means that we have a *passion* for what we do end up writing.
That, to me, is much more important -- that the writing reflect my very best work and that it say what I want it to say. There are many things I *could* say -- many important and worthy causes I could choose to advance or ills I could choose to condemn -- but there are only so many episodes and so many opportunities. Choices have to be made. So what I'm saying to you is not that I'm opposed to the idea of gay-themed shows or issues of sexual orientation being explored on the show, but it's not one of my personal passions and therefore is not likely to end up in my work. "Rejoined" engaged me, it moved me, and I had a passion to tell that tale. If I hear or think of another story that deals with any of the themes you're concerned about that engages me in a similar way, I'd fight for it. That's the best I can offer you.
The following is a statement by Ronald D. Moore, dated July 9, 1998, in response to a fan question why there are still no gay or lesbian characters on Star Trek. source: Star Trek News
"To be completely honest, I think that we've dropped the ball on this subject. While virtually all of the writer/producers on TNG, VOY, and DS9 would support having a continuing gay character, none of us has really pushed for it. Why? I'm not sure. I could go on and on about the various reasons why we haven't done it (the difficulties inherent in defining "gay" in the 24th century, for example), but I doubt you would find any of them very satisfying. I think the explanation may be as simple as realizing that none of us sees it as a priority item on our personal agendas. All of the writers have issues and ideas that we want to explore in our work, but no one has really lobbied to begin writing a continuing gay character in the 24th century.
That's not to say we haven't had gay and lesbian writers come through our doors or that we haven't discussed the idea or that we haven't bandied about various story concepts -- we have. But to fight the good fight on this one (and let's not kid ourselves, given the basic conservatism of TV and the likely affiliate reaction in some regions of the country, this would be a fight) requires more than just a belief in equality or a commitment to the ideals of tolerance and fair play. It would require a passion. A passion that translated itself into a story so good that it got everyone else excited about the idea and made us all rally round to see it happen.
For instance, I felt passionate about "Rejoined." I shared that passion with the rest of the staff and everyone got really excited about doing that show. We presented Rick and the studio with our story and, to their credit, they supported us and the story we wanted to tell. But after "Rejoined" I moved on to other things, other ideas and themes I wanted to explore. It remains to be seen whether anyone will pick up where "Rejoined" left off. Now,I could mouth all kinds of platitudes for you about how much I believe in gay rights, or how I wish that Trek was leading the way on this issue, but the bottom line is that talk is cheap. I'm not doing anything about it, I'm probably not going to do anything about it and I'm as guilty as the rest of us in letting this one slip by."
Ronald D. Moore in a fandom.com interview, February 2, 2000:
"Tell me why there are no gay characters in Star Trek," says Ron Moore. "This is one of those uncomfortable questions I hate getting when I was working on the show, because there is no good answer for it. There is no answer for it other than people in charge don’t want gay characters in Star Trek, period. This stuff about, ‘How would you know? Maybe there are lots of people walking through those corridors that are actually gay. What would you have us do? Show them holding hands? That would be ridiculous. Our regulars don’t hold hands,’ which its own kind of a sad commentary on the state of human relations, that they can’t even hold hands. Just think about what it would say to have a gay Starfleet captain. It would mean something in Star Trek. It would mean something in science fiction. It would mean something in television. Why isn’t Star Trek leading the way anymore, in the social, political front? Gene always said, whether this is true or not, that he saw Star Trek as a way to explore social issues, without the networks catching on. Because it was all couched in space aliens, and ray guns, and space opera type stuff, it gave him a chance to explore these other issues."