Posted in: CBS, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Adira, Anthony Rapp, bleeding cool, Blu del Barrio, cable, discovery, george takei, Hugh Culber, LGBTQ, Paul Stamets, preview, star trek, star trek: discovery, streaming, television, tv, Wilson Cruz

Star Trek: Discovery, GLAAD Team Up for New Collection

To commemorate Star Trek: Discovery's introduction of the franchise's first non-binary character in Adira, played by Blu del Barrio, ViacomCBS in conjunction with StarTrek.com launched the Star Trek: Discovery GLAAD Collection. ViacomCBS announced 100 percent of the proceeds will go to support "GLAAD's culture-changing work to accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ people. Introduced in the set includes the Discovery Delta T-Shirt, Delta Black Mug, and Sherpa Blanket.

When it came to accepting the role del Barrio talked about the opportunity to Entertainment Tonight in joining. "The whole year before I got this job, I was struggling a lot with trying to understand who I was and struggling a lot with my gender," the actor said. "I was questioning a lot of things and I started auditioning for non-binary roles because I knew I wasn't cisgender and I was trying to figure myself out. I kept getting drawn to wanting to play a non-binary role, probably because I wanted to be able to explore myself that way but I wasn't really telling anyone about it. So getting this job and getting to play Adira was really overwhelming at first, but overall a massive blessing because it allowed me to explore myself. I've grown alongside Adira. It's a really strange way for it to happen, but I'm so glad that it has. It's given me a community of people here who are incredibly supportive of me. Wilson and Anthony and Ian [Alexander] are my rocks here and they've helped me through a lot of stuff that I couldn't go through myself alone."

Star Trek: Discovery is the first series of the franchise to have two LGBT active main cast members in a series in Anthony Rapp, who plays chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets and Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber. George Takei, who plays Hikaru Sulu in The Original Series, came out following the TV series' run and films, later becoming a proud prominent voice for LGBTQ rights. Director J. J. Abrams had Kelvin Universe film version of Sulu played by John Cho come out in 2016's Star Trek: Beyond. On Deep Space Nine, Terry Ferrell's Jadzia Dax became part of the franchise's first LGBTQ kiss. Voyagers' Seven of Nine played by Jeri Ryan was later revealed to be bi upon her character's reintroduction in Star Trek: Picard. Discovery streams Thursdays on CBS All Access

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