A reader veers from the initial debate to further build the case for Star Trek as a pioneering force for equality:
Deep Space Nine deserves credit for the kiss you posted, and the relationship around it. Knowing the series, the fandom, and the writers/producers as I do, I'm certain the intent was noble, and it did move things forward in a bold way. But that was, frankly, two hot girls kissing (one of whom used to be the other's husband … it's complicated and nerdy). It beats pretending homosexuals don't exist, but it's the gay equivalent of the two-steps-forward-one-step-back African Amercians made with their caricature roles in the '70s.
You want to talk about Star Trek's boldy going there with homosexuality, I'm surprised no one has brought the Next Generation Episode "The Outcast" to your attention. This was far enough back in the '90s that you weren't going to see lesbians kiss on TV, but to my mind, this was a much more powerful and daring.
The episode is about a species without gender, that views gender expression as an abomination and an illness to be cured. It's powerful because there's nothing foreign about it. I was raised in a conservative, devout evangelical home with pretty standard anti-gay attitudes (hate the sin, love the sinner). I saw this at a young age. What I saw was Riker, a manly guy I respected and could relate to, falling in love with a woman (no learned moral outrage alarm bells there!) and losing her to the tragedy of an intolerant society.
I absorbed it as a tragedy, but didn't understand why a society would do that, even as I went to a church that behaved that way. The episode wasn't one of my favorites, and it perplexed me deeply. It was years before I made the obvious connection to homophobia and the ex-gay movement. That realization was profound, and it changed my life. My ability to judge and exclude and cast people out was cast down so completely I'm embarrassed to even talk about it in this anonymous email. The change was so complete and sudden, I almost literally felt as though scales fell off my eyes.
To this day, I don't think my parents have any idea the shape or size of the impact Star Trek had on my moral compass and political choices in this area and others. That's all to the good; they'd never forgive themselves for letting me watch it.
The Dish 