Sexuality

Sexuality is the drive responsible for attachments stemming from a societal or biological need to join with a mate. (Star Trek: The Original Series)

Sexuality[]

The following terms can be used in reference to different aspects of sexuality, mainly human sexuality:

Sex can refer to the biological anatomy of the reproductive system of a person, or the act of intercourse or acts leading up to, or following, intercourse, including if intercourse is not achieved or is not desired.
Virginity is the state of never before having had intercourse.
A heterosexual is a person who develops romantic attachments to and/or primarily engages in sexual acts with members of the opposite sex.
A homosexual is a person who develops romantic attachments to and/or primarily engages in sexual acts with members of the same sex.
- Gay is a slang word for homosexuals, more so homosexual men than homosexual women.
- Lesbian is a word for a female homosexual.
- Coming out is the act of informing others of one's sexual orientation or gender preference. It is mainly confined to non-heterosexuals.
- Being closeted refers to keeping one's sexual orientation a secret from others.
A bisexual is a person who develops romantic attachments to and/or engages in sexual acts with members of both opposite and same sexes.
An asexual is a person who has no set inclination for any form of romantic attachments or engagement in sexual acts.
Abstention or celibacy is where an individual refrains from sexual intercourse for personal, legal, social, psychological, ethical, or religious reasons. With abstention, this can happen before marriage for various reasons. With celibacy, there also usually is restraint from sexual thoughts and desires as well.
An open marriage or open relationship generally refers to a relationship where both parties are free to engage with relationships or sexual encounters with an individual or individuals outside the relationship.

Sexuality among non-Humans[]

Sexuality varies among species. Denobulans have three mates of the opposite gender, and each of these mates has three, etc. (ENT: "Doctor's Orders"). Andorian marriages require groups of four (TNG: "Data's Day"). While preferences are not specified, the presence of such multiple individual marriages strongly implies that some sexuality may be fluid.

Sexology is the scientific study of sexuality. Both Lyrans and U'lanna considered sexology as a medical specialty. (Star Trek: The Stoneship Files: "For a New World")

Gender[]

The following terms can be used in reference to different aspects of gender, mainly human genders:

Gender can refer to the role society expects of an individual based on that person's biological sex (gender role) or the role the individual portrays in-line with that person identifies with mentally and spiritually (gender identity).
A transgendered individual is a person whose biological sex and gender identity may not align fully.
An intersex individual is a person whose reproductive system may display traits of both male and female, like more than one set of genitalia, and/or whose body has variations of chromosomes and/or sex hormones that do not fully align to one biological sex or another.

Sexuality and gender in fan continuities[]

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier[]

Starfleet personnel involved in same-sex partnerships included Ro Nevin (a Bajoran who also had a relationship with Tara Abis, a female Bajoran), Corey Aster (Human), Jorian Zen (Trill), and Nej'ta (Klingon). When Ensign Ro discussed Aster's attraction to him with Ensign Brett Rawlins, Rawlins attached no particular significance to the fact that they were both male. Ro and Aster eventually married. (Star Trek: Hidden Frontier: "Encke", "Vigil", "The Widening Gyre", "Its Hour Come Round At Last")

In Between Days[]

Asexual character

Christian Harris

Bisexual characters[]

Andrea Reynolds
Elektra
Kelsey Haber (possibly)
Melissa Madden

Gay characters (female)[]

Gay characters (male)[]

David Constantine
Lucas Donnelly
Preston Jennings
Franklin Thomas Todd

Open marriage[]

The marriage of Lili O'Day and Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett was an open one after 2159 when Doug took a lover, Melissa Madden, and Lili took a lover, Malcolm Reed. Melissa also retained her lesbian lover, Leonora Digiorno. The parties referred to the marriage and its adjuncts as "the arrangement". The arrangement was discontinued upon Doug's death, in 2181 (In Between Days: Equinox), although the parties remained close.

Multiple marriages[]

Denobulans married three spouses who in turn also had three spouses. These arrangements seemed to be relatively open, probably allowing for consensual affairs (ENT: "Doctor's Orders", "Dear Doctor"). When Amanda Cole and Phlox consented to date and, eventually, wed, this was a concern of hers (In Between Days: The Three of Us).
Daranaeans divided females into three separate castes, depending upon aroma. Wealthy Daranaean men would have three wives, one from each caste. Less wealthy men either did not marry at all or would only have one wife, often purchased from the lowest caste (In Between Days: The Cure is Worse Than the Disease).

Alternate and unconventional practices[]

Pamela Hudson was a sexual abuse victim, and preferred mild forms of bondage and light sadomasochism (In Between Days: Intolerance). Malcolm Reed confessed that the light bondage was the only thing he had liked about that (In Between Days: Together).

Interspecies sexuality[]

Kevin O'Connor was part-Gorn and part-human, making him an obvious product of mixed species mating. His wife, Josie (Jhasi Tantharis), was Aenar (In Between Days: Temper).
Pamela Hudson married Treve, a Calafan. The difference in species made it impossible for them to have children together (In Between Days: Remembrance).

Star Trek: Phase II[]

In the 2260s, James Kirk's nephew Ensign Peter Kirk and Lieutenant Alex Freeman, both male humans, planned to marry. (Star Trek: Phase II episodes "Blood and Fire, Part 1 and Part 2")

TOSS[]

Root and Wheel were lovers from before they joined Starfleet. In the 23rd century, some official documents omitted mention of human relationships other than male-female pair-bonds, but non-human personnel knew this description was ridiculously incomplete. (TOSS #15 "Earth humour")

The felinoid engineers Ash, Smoke and Ember were in a three-person partnership; in their culture this was a common arrangement. (TOSS #39 "Docking Tube")

The Mysterious Case of Neelix's Lungs[]

Harry Kim was gay and had a minor crush on Tom Paris; however, Paris was heterosexual. ("Factoring Primes", "Setting the Curve")

The author's notes for "Factoring Primes" state that StarSword and Worffan101 had written this in deference to Garrett Wang's brief attempt to play Kim as gay early in Star Trek: Voyager before being shut down by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

Veronica Stadi also mentioned that Paris had caught Mariah Henley and Tahel Mizrahi making out on duty. ("Setting the Curve")

Bait and Switch[]

Kanril Eleya's Starfleet Academy roommate Jasmine Velasquez was omnisexual (i.e., having no apparent preference for gender or species) and tended to kick Kanril out of the dorm room when she brought back hookups on Friday nights.

Captain Alfred Detweiler, Kanril's commanding officer on the USS Kagoshima, was mentioned to have a husband and three teenage children on New Leipzig.

Kanril herself was involved in a Bajoran/human relationship with Jerrod Dalton at the Academy, which ended badly. She also alluded to having had a threesome with two Klingons. ("From Bajor to the Black, Part II")

Lieutenant Rachel Connor openly identified as bisexual, and had both casual sex and relationships with men and women of various species, before entering a stable monogamous relationship with Reman/Trill hybrid Ensign Eleana Valen. Her trainee Huang Shou-Hui, assigned female at birth, eventually transitioned to male and identified as a trans man. (Liberation, Beneath the Surface, Rock Bottom, Live, not Survive)