Outright International honors queer cast and crew of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
NEW YORK — LGBTQ stars and allies came out for a celebration of the global human rights organization Outright last week, showering activists from the Caribbean, Google’s philanthropy division and the out stars of “Star Trek: Discovery” with awards and applause. “‘Star Trek: Discovery’ calls on us to do the hard thing: To remember who we are and commit ourselves to the work of realizing our collective mission of creating a multicultural and multiethnic world in which everyone’s humanity is respected, and everyone’s voice is heard, valued and needed,” said actor Wilson Cruz.
He joined Anthony Rap and Blu del Barrio on stage to accept this year’s Outspoken Award on behalf of their queer costars Mary Wiseman, Tig Notaro and Emily Coutts, executive producer Michelle Paradise and writer/director and producer Lee Rose. “The reason why we’re being honored tonight for our storyline is because ‘Star Trek’ is a franchise that reaches around the globe,” Wilson told the Washington Blade. “’Star Trek’ has been so successful in helping to inspire people to create a better world.
And so, the fact that LGBTIQ people are a part of the stories now is why we’re here today.” “We’re honoring ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ because they have such an out and proud queer cast, and we think it links to what we do,” Maria Sjödin, executive director of Outright International, told the Blade. “Outright is all about promoting rights for people here on Earth, and what we see in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is taking that across the galaxy, and really building on coming together.
We do a lot of work at the United Nations, and we think it’s important to get as many countries as we can to agree that rights for LGBTIQ people is important.
