10 Times Star Trek Showed Us That There Is A Chance At A Progressive Future
5. Star Trek Broadcasts Its First Same-Sex Kiss And The Characters Don't Even Blink An Eye
In the fourth season of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn, current hosts where their symbionts had been lovers in the past, meet and they rekindle their relationship. On-screen, the issue of whether it was appropriate for former lovers to do this was key. Off-screen, this was the first depiction by the franchise of a same-sex pairing.
Terry Farrell never saw the issue as being one of 'lesbianism', but rather of the taboos that society put on seemingly simple things. For her, she knew that Dax was supported by all of her colleagues and friends as she faced the choice of, not changing who she was to adapt to Kahn's new host, but walking away from her society so that she could keep a former love alive.
The episode received a number of complaints from viewers who felt that it should have been preceded by a parental warning. René Echevarria recalled that even his mother did not appreciate the episode. Steve Oster, a producer on the show, recalled a man who phoned in about the episode. His call was taken by a PA.
The man exclaimed that the show had no right forcing his children to watch the scene and that it would mess his kids up. The PA responded by asking if he would have been ok with watching one woman shoot the other woman, to which he replied he would have been.
Said the PA: 'You should reconsider who's messing up your kids.'