The Star Trek Episode That Secretly Explored the Most Controversial '90s Story
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
From the beginning, Star Trek embraced progressive ideas that risked angering conservative audiences at the time. The Original Seriesfor example, she made a black woman the main character at the height of the Civil Rights era. It also featured a prominent Japanese character during post-World War II racism and added a Russian character during the Cold War. Later, shows like Deep Space Nine he took big swings by making a Black man the captain, too Voyager did the same thing by putting a woman in charge, almost 30 years after TOS insisted there could be no female Starfleet captains.
However, there was one last frontier that the Golden Age of Star Trek dared not explore, and that was with openly gay characters. There are many people responsible for this decision. Historically, franchise creator Gene Roddenberry was against including gay characters because he was worried about offending the network and the fandom. After his death, new Trek creator Rick Berman reportedly did his best to eliminate many gay characters and storylines. However, that didn't stop the writers from occasionally sneaking past the goalkeeper. For example, i Deep Space Nine the episode “Rules of Adoption” shows that Dax fully accepts the Quark-loving Ferengi, even when he thinks the Ferengi is a man!
Star Trek's Deceptive Sex
For this strange story to make sense, we'll have to shoot around the sun and visit different Star Trek eras. In an interview with PBS, gay franchise icon George Takei said he talked to Roddenberry about including any openly gay characters. He says Roddenberry really wanted to do it but was worried he was “walking a tightrope” with viewers, pointing out that Kirk and Uhura's interracial kiss was “very controversial.” When The Next Generation came out, there were unconfirmed accounts that Roddenberry had promised various parties that he would cast gay actors, but that never happened.
After Roddenberry's death, Rick Berman became the last word on Star Trek. Unfortunately, it is suspected that he has done everything possible to eliminate gay representation in the industry. This includes killing David Gerrold TNG script with gay characters and a clear allegory of AIDs. Berman also killed the Bashir/Garak relationship DS9 despite the fact that the players were there. Later, he even issued a press release to kill rumors that First Contact's Lieutenant Hawke was gay. Finally, TNG and DS9 writer Ronald Moore appears to refer to Berman, telling Fandom the only reason there are gay characters in this franchise is because “the people in charge don't want gay characters in Star Trek, period.”
The Latinum That Never Speaks Its Name
So, what does all this have to do with the largely forgotten “Laws of Adoption.” Deep Space Nine episode? This episode features Quark's female employee, Pel, who has a crush on her boss. However, because of the artificial lobes, he appears in the galaxy as a male. He comes across as a man when he confesses his love for Quark to Dax. The chief scientist was fine with Pel professing his love for a man, a simple act that helped normalize same-sex relationships in the 24th century. It's not as loud and proud as it could be, but finding this time Rick Berman was a bit of a surprise.
After this, Deep Space Nine made more progress in terms of gay representation. Dax kisses another woman in “Rejoined,” for example. In “Chimera,” Quark makes a meta joke about the “pride change” demonstration. Meanwhile, the DS9 Mirror Universe is filled with an odd variety of characters, including Kira, Ezri Dax, Garak, and even Worf, most of whom dress like they're headed to the local sex den. Is this all camp and mostly caters to straight guys who like to see women play? Of course. But DS9 still had a better portrayal of gays than any Star Trek show to date Adoptionand it all started with Dax getting to know gays, right under Rick Berman's nose!
