I know this is a real hot take but I gotta be honest every time I see the queer rep stuff in Discovery it makes me feel tired. I might be off, but every clip I see has this Glee/Rent 2000s era self-satisfied representation kinda feel to it.
And it's hard to complain, because with the amount of backlash the actors are getting, clearly Star Trek DOES need to do queer theory 101 for its fanbase. But as a queer person who doesn't need to be handheld through the concept of pronouns it's pretty exhausting.
It makes me feel like an asshole to prefer the versions of Trek where they didn't talk about this all the time. But the reason is a) I get to fantasize about a world where this stuff just isn't an issue, and imagine that the characters are all just gay and bi and don't even have to discuss it and b) it's a lot of fucking work to sit through your identity being hashed out for the masses! You're forced back into the real world, remembering that "oh right, people hate me," instead of just being able to enjoy a story.
I mean I'm gonna be honest, I'm a simple girl, I just want to watch a love story. Preferably between two girls. With lots of longing and subtle glances. I want to rewind the television every time they talk to each other and look wide eyed at my friends and ask them if they heard that. Maybe that's a selfish thing to want. But it is what it is.
