LGBTA: The "A" is for "Android"

Tonight I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation 2.09, The Measure of a Man. The plot of the episode is that a cybernetics expert wishes to dismantle Lt. Commander Data, the android second-officer of the Enterprise-D. Rather than accept a transfer that could result in his death, Data chooses to resign from Starfleet. He is told, however, that he is property of Starfleet and cannot resign. Captain Picard challenges the law and a hearing is convened to determine whether Data is indeed property.

Though we have yet to construct anything that can come close to passing for a sentient being, we are already engaged in many of the relevant philosophical arguments today in regards to animals. From what I've read and contemplated, the only sound argument for not endowing other species with rights is that we are human and they are not. Obviously this barrier no longer holds for the United Federation of Planets with its 150 members.

Not surprisingly, Captain Picard wins the day by proving that Data is both intelligent and self-aware, and calling into question the possibility that he may also be conscious. The JAG officer at the local starbase rules that Data is not Starfleet property and is free to choose his own fate.

My question to Star Trek fans across the political spectrum is: what if Data wants to get married? As a machine, it could be argued that he (it) has no sex, making it impossible for him to engage in a heterosexual relationship. So, since marriage is between a man and a woman (right?), he can't get married (except on Risa, which I'm betting is the San Francisco* of the 24th century).

But he presents himself as male. Is that his sex, or his gender? Is he a non-gendered individual who is a transgendered male? He is male because his "father" (Dr. Noonien Soong) made him male, as sometimes happens with humans. Perhaps as he becomes increasingly self-aware, he will decide he's actually female. Is he wrong, since his creator made him male? Or is the creator of his self-identity not Dr. Soong, but, say, God?

We'd better go ahead and let everyone marry whomever they want now, or we're going to get blindsided by the Android issue.

*Actually, San Francisco is the San Francisco of the 24th century, and is home to Starfleet Headquarters.