According to Star Trek, in the future we’ll have tricorders, warp engines, holodecks and men in dresses.

Upon watching Star Trek: The Next Generation recently I happen to notice a men in a dress in the background. My first thought was that I couldn’t wait until the future so I can be in public while airing out my junk. But my second thought was to wonder just what the deal with it was.

According to the Star Trek wiki, this uniform was known as a scant. Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek and the guy ultimately responsible for giving us William Shatner singing, thought it would be a good idea to show how far gender equality would come.

Maybe it would be acceptable for men to show off their legs in the 23rd century, but the same probably wasn’t true for the 20th. The skirted man only appeared a couple times in the first season, and then would never be seen again.

Unfortunately, for a series that was groundbreaking for showing much equality, including featuring different races in power, there were never any Gay characters on the show. Gene Rodenberry promised that there would be openly gay characters on The Next Generation, but died shortly thereafter and the idea never materialized.