A Different Angle: a random collection of essays and observations, mostly about lesbian/gay/bi issues.
© Todd VerBeek, Radio Zero(tm)
This essay originally appeared in the January 1992 issue of Network News, the newsletter of the Lesbian & Gay Community Network of Western Michigan

Network V: The Undiscovered Country

As my family and close friends know, I am a trekkie. While I can't claim that I was born this way (I was nearly a year and a half old when "Star Trek" premiered), I have been a trekkie as long as I can remember. So indulge me as I use the latest Trek feature film as the theme for this essay.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country opened on the eve of the Network's fifth annual elections. Considering the parallels between that film, and the Network and the world today, the timing seems appropriate.

The film is about a pivotal event in the history of the United Federation of Planets: the beginning of peaceful diplomatic relations with the Klingons. And it is planned to be the last movie featuring the original cast. It's a story about the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

As explained in this movie, "the undiscovered country" is the future. Like the Federation in Star Trek VI, the Network is now poised on the shore of the undiscovered country.

In electing Mayor Logie and Commissioner Heartwell, and re-electing Commissioner Samuelson, the lesbian and gay community now has a chance at friendly relations with the City Commission. For the first time ever, we have good reason to hope that our rights will soon be recognized in Grand Rapids. It's an historic opportunity which--like the Federation--we cannot afford to miss.

One of the big rumors about this film was that Kirk or some other main characters would be killed off. Well, the reports of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated. Same with the Network Board. Yes, it's true that several veteran Board members have stepped down, and that we're one director short of capacity, but that still leaves us with eleven people who are dedicated to taking the Network forward.

We've achieved a long-time dream of the Network: a community center open to the public on a regular basis. Looking ahead at the calendar for February, I see that there will be something happening there almost every day of the month. But so far, we've only scratched the surface of what this new multi-purpose facility could mean.

But let's get back to the film, and look at it from another perspective, this time with the lesbian and gay community as the Klingons. The Federation and the Klingons are on the verge of making peace. But there are some in the Federation who fear that future... that unknown, undiscovered country. Men like Captain Kirk have learned to hate Klingons, and in order to live in that future, must learn to overcome their prejudices. They fear what they do not know, and they viciously hate what they fear. Some, more ignorant, more fearful, and more hateful than Kirk, would dive into all-out war rather than take the chance to accept the Klingons as equals and as friends.

But the reactionaries are fighting against the flow of history. Spock tells his skeptical protege that she must have faith... that despite the resistance of the hate-mongers, the future will work out. We, too, must have faith... that our efforts to gain justice and respect will not be in vain, that we will succeed. And we have an obligation to history to help make it happen.

The Network is entering its fifth year, and we don't yet know what we will find in that undiscovered country. But with the commitment and dedication of the new Board of Directors, and the active support and involvement of the membership, I have faith that we'll face it well. It's time for us to boldly go where no man... no one has gone before.

I'd like to comment on one other, unrelated element of the film. Kirk's son David Marcus appeared in two of the earlier films, until the character was brutally killed. Merritt Butrick, the actor who played David, later developed AIDS and has since died. (You may have seen his panel at the local Quilt display.)

Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but David's demise has now become an important element of the ongoing story. Several scenes (and a plot twist) focus on Kirk's rage over the untimely, unnecessary death of his son... like our rage over the untimely, unnecessary deaths of Butrick and all others taken by AIDS. And I'm reminded of the line David spoke to his father in Star Trek II, after the death of Kirk's best friend: "How we face death is at least as important as how we face life."

So it is.

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