Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz portray
the Star Trek television franchise's first gay couple onboard
a ship in CBS All Access' Star Trek: Discovery.
Cruz plays medical officer Dr. Hugh
Culber, while Rapp portrays starfleet officer Lt. Paul Stamets, an
expert on fungus.
“I couldn't be more proud to be a
part of Star Trek TV's first gay couple,” Rapp
said during a panel at New York Comic Con. “I can't say how
much that means to me personally as a fan of the series and as a
member of the LGBT community.”
“I'm proud of the fact that none of
that really matters on the show,” Rapp said of his character's
relationship, which he described as “alive, truthful and human.”
Cruz called the storyline “really
important” to breaking down barriers.
“These stories we tell are really
important, so that people understand who we are, what our lives are
like, and perhaps they will understand us and not hate us,” Cruz
said.
“But the fact of the matter is,” he
later added, “most of the LGBTQ characters now on TV are still gay
white men. The work that needs to be done now is to diversify the
picture of LGBTQ people, so that people can see that we come from all
races, different genders, we have trans people.”
Cruz and Rapp previously worked on the
Broadway musical Rent. Rapp originated the role of Mark
Cohen, while Cruz played Angel.