'Enterprise' to explore gay story lines

By William Keck, USA TODAY, 12/6/2002

Rumors have run rampant for years of same-sex handholding in the corridors of the Enterprise. "That was really the wishful thinking of some people who were constantly at us," says Enterprise producer Rick Berman. "But we don't see heterosexual couples holding hands on the show, so it would be somewhat dishonest of us to see two gay men or lesbians holding hands."

But the Feb. 5 episode of the UPN series will allegorically explore homosexual issues. On Stigma, T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and her physician, Dr. Phlox, reveal a secret: T'Pol has been infected with an incurable degenerative Vulcan disease similar to HIV/AIDS and has kept her condition secret to avoid associations with mind melders, the Vulcan minority suffering from the disease.

Blalock, who has lost loved ones to AIDS, says, "Our generation has been educated; now it's time to educate the next generation — it's dangerous out there! This is something I really believe in, so I was honored to be chosen as the ill one."

Berman says: "By the end of the episode, we're left with some open story elements. What we would most likely deal with is T'Pol's desire to educate the Vulcan people and destroy this sense of prejudice held against (mind melders)."

The opportunity to educate, he says, outweighed the risk of turning off Enterprise fans. "In true Star Trek form, we're hoping the young people who watch will have some degree of enlightenment about a situation they're not all that aware of."