10 Star Trek Episodes That Completely Ignored Convention
2. Rejoined
In 1996, same-sex relationships were not the norm on television. Therefore, Terry Farrell and Susanna Thompson's kiss in this fourth-season episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was almost as controversial then as the interracial kiss had been in the sixties. In fact, some stations along the Bible belt in America refused to air the episode unedited, opting to remove the scene altogether.
In a way, the fear around the episode was judging it to be something it wasn't. While no one was ignorant to the fact that two women kissing on television was a statement in itself, the episode was actually targeting the idea of taking societal taboos as a whole. In Trill society, the issue is not that Jadzia and Lenara are female, but rather that current hosts should never rekindle the relationships of former hosts.
Looking at the episode, not one character even mentions the fact that they are two women who share these feelings for each other. The only advice that Sisko gives his old friend is to be aware of the damage it could do, based on the Trills' views. The episode managed to take a same-sex pairing, and turn it into another issue altogether. For the mid-nineties, this was particularly bold.