Star Trek To Be Honored With Visionary Award at Outfest Legacy Awards
Star Trek will receive the Visionary Award from the Outfest Legacy Awards at this year's ceremony, taking place on Saturday, October 22nd at Paramount Studios. The Outfest Legacy Awards is an awards show and fundraiser that celebrates LGBTQIA+ "movers and shakers in the film and television industry." The event includes live performances, a red carpet, and special appearances by creators. In addition to the Star Trek franchise, other honorees at this year's event include actress and musician Janelle Monáe, Amazon's Glamazon Employee Resource Group, and Outfest's Deputy Director Kerri Stoughton-Jackson. Monáe is receiving Outfest's Trailblazer Award. Glamazon will receive the Guardian Award. Stoughton-Jackson will claim the Jonathan Howard Legacy Award.
Nikki Santoro, COO of IMDb, will present Star Trek with the 2022 Visionary Award. Star Trek: Discovery star Wilson Cruz will accept the award on the franchise's behalf.
"As a self-proclaimed proud 'Trekkie' I have always been enamored with the Star Trek universe, originating with Gene Roddenberry's original canon, that has been created and expanded by so many visionaries, artists and talent, both above and below line," said Outfest's Executive Director, Damien S. Navarro in a statement. "We are excited to celebrate the dozens of 'ahead-of-their time' films, series, animation, games, art and graphic novels that continue to feature some of the most well-rounded diverse and queer characters and their storylines."
The Star Trek franchise is over 50 years old and spans 11 television shows and 13 films. The idea of IDIC, or "infinite diversity in infinite combination," has long been part of the philosophy instilled in the Star Trek universe by its creator, Gene Roddenberry, encouraging a commitment to diversity.
Star Trek: Discovery, the series that brought Star Trek back to television after a 12-year hiatus, has received particular attention for its diverse cast, including Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, one half of a gay married couple with Anthony Rapp's Paul Stamets. Nonbinary actor Blu del Barrio plays the nonbinary character Adira Tal in the series, who is in a relationship with transgender character Gray Tal, played by transgender actor Ian Alexander. Discovery has received three GLAAD Award nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, winning once.
"I feel it's an honor, and I hope that it encourages these other worlds to do it," Rapp said of representing the LGBTQIA+ community in a franchise as big as Star Trek during an interview with ComicBook.com in 2021. "It's mystifying and sad to me that it's just still so rare. I think we've demonstrated so fully how much it can matter and how much it can mean to so many people and how important it is, and how also seamless it can be. It's not like there's a lot of stuff around it in the text of the show. There's not any signaling. It's just, we are characters, and these are the facts of our lives, and these are our relationships just like any other character and any other character's relationships."
Star Trek: Discovery is currently filming its fifth season for release in 2023. Its first four seasons are streaming now on Paramount+.