It all began on a lark. When Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu was revealed as the first gay character in the science fiction franchise Star Trek in 2016, journalist Dan Deevy decided to organize a one-off commemoration at that year’s Star Trek Las Vegas convention.
“This is a massive, historical, moment here and no one seems to be acknowledging it, certainly not celebrating it in any way,” Deevy thought to himself. “I said, you know what, I’m going to be there anyway – even if it just turns out to be me and two friends raising a glass to this moment, toasting it, then it’s worth it. Because I didn’t know if anyone else cared as much as I did. And then we did the party and so many people cared. So many people came.”
From that small beginning emerged Gaaays in Spaaace, a nonprofit organization that has built a community of true believers working for diversity and inclusion in both Hollywood and the aerospace industry. “Gaaays in Spaaace wants to be able to connect the reality of today with the optimistic vision of the future we see in Roddenberry’s vision,” Dan Deevy explains, noting Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. “If we are going to become a spacefaring civilization, universal equality has to happen first. And we want to be a force for proving that, for laying it out for people that that’s true.”
Although the seeds for Gaaays in Spaaace were planted in Las Vegas, it was a slow and steady evolution that led to its full blossoming. Nana Visitor, who portrayed Kira Nerys in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was one of the many who attended that initial gathering. “She found me the next day on the convention floor and she said to me, ‘Dan, that was amazing,’” Deevy remembers. “‘The next time you do that, I’m there.’ And at that moment I said, ‘Well, Major Kira just said if I plan a party, she’s coming, so clearly my job now is to plan more parties.’”
It wasn’t just Nana Visitor who had such a reaction. “I realized, ‘OK, wait. This struck a chord.’” Deevy continues. “And it just so happened to be a chord that was so meaningful to me. I mean, like, at the root of who I am as a person. And so from that point on, I said, ‘OK, we’re going to keep doing these. We’re going to build a community. We’re going to see – maybe we’ll do two more parties. Maybe three more parties. Maybe that’s it.’ And every time we did it, more people came.”
After the positive reception at Star Trek Las Vegas, Dan Deevy extended his organizational skills into New York City, Albany, and San Francisco in 2016, Chicago in 2017, and Los Angeles in 2018, with numerous other locales sandwiched in-between. As a result, the community that Deevy hoped to build became reality.
“So far, that we know of, three marriages came out of people meeting at a Gaaays in Spaaace party, including mine,” he notes. “I met my husband at a Gaaays in Spaaace party. So the community building, I felt, after the first couple of years, we pretty much had on lock. We were doing well there.”
Having found success of one front, Gaaays in Spaaace next embarked on a mission similar to the USS Enterprise and expanded into the Final Frontier. “We have a scholarship program called the Inclusive Space Academy Scholarship where we send underrepresented kids to Space Academy,” Deevy explains. “It’s a week-long session for kids who’d never have that opportunity. And more than that, who just could never even conceive of the fact that, ‘Hey, I could be an astronaut, regardless of what my family says to me, what I’m judged for. I could be an astronaut. And holy cow, these guys think I could be, too. They’re sending me here.’ People say it could only take a single moment, that one single moment in a kid’s life can completely change their trajectory. So we started doing things like that.”
After organizing over 200 events that drew in excess of 20,000 attendees, Gaaays in Spaaace launched their first Galactic Diversity & Inclusion Convention in May 2023 in Philadelphia. With dozens of actors from the Star Trek franchise in attendance – as well as leaders from the growing aerospace industry in the United States – Dan Deevy and his cohorts created an experience different from other science fiction conventions. While the requisite panels, autographs, and photo ops sessions were part of the proceeding, opportunities were also provided to allow fans to interact with actors in smaller groups and more unique settings.
“We do something that we call Away Missions, which are separate events that are for no more than twenty-four attendees led by one of the actors doing some kind of different activity,” Deevy explains. “You go to a normal convention, you wait in line, you get to the table, you have twenty seconds, thirty seconds maybe to interact with them. Our stuff, you do an Away Mission, that’s ninety minutes of doing something with the actors.”
At the 2024 Galactic Diversity & Inclusion Con, for instance, Denise Crosby – Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation – was scheduled to teach a salsa dance class, with Terry Farrell of Deep Space Nine hosting “Game Night Shenanigans.” Actor Robert Duncan McNeill, meanwhile, was set to channel his Star Trek persona Tom Paris for “Racing Robbie,” allowing fans to compete in a drone racing tournament against the chief helmsman of the USS Voyager.
In addition to Starfleet officers, Klingon warriors are likewise represented at the con. “J.G. Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly – Chancellor Martok and Chancellor Gowron – are teaching Bat’leths for Beginners, a stage combat class where people learn how to fight with a Klingon bat’leth with the chancellors in full make-up, full costume, the whole thing,” Dan Deevy explains. “They’re also teaching a Mek’leths for Masters class. Same thing, it’s just a different weapon” Plans also included Hertzler and O’Reilly attending a Klingon banquet in which Hertzler’s Martok renewed his wedding vows with Lady Sirella, portrayed by actor Shannon Cochran.
“With each year, we want to be able to do more of these things, increase people’s opportunities to truly connect with their heroes,” Deevy says. “Because I know from my experience, it’s pretty darn impactful. I mean, last year, Denise Crosby – who was my first crush on television as Tasha Yar – she officiated my wedding. So the fact that Tasha Yar married me, I can say that and it’s not a lie. Blows my mind. I want to give that experience to as many fans as possible.”
As Gaaays in Spaaace has increased its activities, it has likewise enlarged the scope of the organization. “We started out as ‘Gaaays in Spaaace,’ very much a cisgendered male, gay perspective, because that’s my perspective, that’s my life,” Dan Deevy explains. “And the first party was kind of just about me and my friends. But as time has gone on, it has expanded. And we are embracing the other groups within our community and exploring their experiences. Since phase two started, it’s no longer just about the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s all underrepresented communities. People need to realize that we are not going to become a spacefaring civilization if we are still telling women, ‘You can’t be an astronaut.’ Or are still telling people of color, ‘You can’t be a physicist.’ We can’t. The same thing with my community.”
For Dan Deevy, it all goes back to the original vision of Gene Roddenberry. Describing himself as a member of the “latchkey generation” that grew up during the 1980s, Deevy confides that there were a lack of male role models for him emulate as a youth.
“But when I would watch Star Trek, it was those characters, those were the people I wanted to be like,” he says. “Those were the people who taught me the life lessons. They taught me how to become a man, how to become a good man. A good part of society who cares more about others than himself. You are rich when you make other people happy and prosperous.” He then quickly adds, “Not the Ferengi, obviously. I mean, don’t look up to the Ferengi. But that’s what attracted me to it and that’s what hooked me, and I have been hooked ever since.”
From a one-off Las Vegas party to Gaaays in Spaaace, from a Space Camp scholarship program to a Galactic Diversity & Inclusion Convention, the life lessons learned from Star Trek have served Dan Deevy well.
Anthony Letizia