Star Trek was a pioneer of subtly exploring LGBTQ+ identities long before they did so out in the open. In this way, it gave fans one of the most beautiful moments in the franchise’s history. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was never afraid to push the envelope. While it maintained the hijinks-forward spirit of tradition, it was bold in its exploration of hot-button issues like racism, genocide, and even the occasional conversation around bodily autonomy. In season 4, episode 6, “Rejoined,” Deep Space Nine decided to tackle gay identities in its own roundabout way.
The episode involved Trill, symbionts, and the complicated history of two people who’d fallen in love with each other many lifetimes prior but couldn’t move forward. Lenara Kahn (Susanna Thompson) and Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) had a complicated history that rears its ugly head after the two are reunited for a scientific projection. Most fans went in knowing would never end in one big gay happily ever after, even if it did involve true love’s kiss. That did nothing to stop viewers from hoping, as one of the franchise’s most sincere yet short-lived romances played out before their eyes.
Who is Lenara Kahn?
Explaining Lenara’s background is tricky in a way that is only possible when Trill are involved. Luckily, Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) break it down for Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Star Trek audiences alike. Trill society is built around the passing of symbionts, worm-like creatures that carry knowledge gained through joining with a trained host. A symbiont can carry residual aspects such as memories and personality traits between hosts. But their primary function is gathering wisdom through a wide variety of experiences, and passing it on to keep Trill culture alive.
Lenara is the latest host of the Kahn symbiont. She arrives on Deep Space Nine on a mission to figure out how to create artificial wormholes. Long before she shares a gay kiss with Jadzia, she’s making plans with her brother Bejal Otner (Tim Ryan) on how best to execute their plans.
Lenara is depicted as both soft-spoken and witty. She can carry a conversation, she’s intelligent, and she’s dedicated to her job. It’s easy to see how someone like that would have caught Dax’s eye, no matter what physical form either of them was in.
The Complicated Romance of Jadzia & Lenara
Star Trek has a spotty record when it comes to portraying romance. Sometimes, the franchise hits it out of the park with couples like Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) on Discovery. Other times, however, it can fumble and end up with morally dubious romantic relationships like Kes (Jennifer Lien) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips).
Then Lenara and Jadzia come along. What they have is tragic but beautiful with no future in sight; yet, they love each other anyway. In other words, it’s gay and complicated. According to Julian, the Kahn symbiont was joined to Nilani when it fell for the Dax symbiont, which was joined to Torias at the time. The two married before Torias was killed in a shuttle accident, and Nilani died sometime after.
Where Lenara was the next in line for the Kahn symbiont, the Dax symbiont went through two other hosts before being joined to Jadzia. So, many years went by before their unexpected reunion in Deep Space Nine. They thought they’d be able to handle seeing other again, and that they could put professional obligations over personal feelings. Instead, it was like Jadzia and Lenara had never parted in the first place. They fell into an easy rapport, and it was honestly only a matter of time before they were sharing the first gay kiss on primetime TV for the world to see.
Why Was Their Relationship Against the Rules?
Jadzia and Lenara had a gay flavor of tension from the moment they started sharing a screen. The DS9 crew can’t help but watch them during the welcome reception for the Trill scientists. Nerys later wonders why Jadzia and Lenara can’t “just pick up where they left off,” since they were a married couple before disaster struck. Jadzia explains that such conduct is considered reassociation. Trill joined to symbionts are expected to move on, leaving any prior family behind to further their wisdom in different life experiences. Survival of Trill culture relies on the passing of symbionts. It’s a lot of responsibility to take on, which is why potential hosts undergo rigorous training at the Symbiosis Institute.
Lenara’s brother Bejal may have been oblivious at the beginning of the episode, but he and their fellow scientist Hanor Pren (James Noah) catch on quickly. Their suspicions of the women throughout the episode echo what some gay people experience in real life. For example, Bejal interrupts dinner with his sister to express concerns about how her obvious feelings for Jadzia are making her act out of character – at least, from how he knew her to be. There's also the layer of how Jadzia and Lenara choosing each other could very well get them exiled from Trill society, since they would no longer be able to continue their line of symbionts. A stronger allegory for gay experiences could only be made if they were wearing rainbow flags for the entire episode.
How Did Lenara & Jadzia's Romance End?
Some fans saw Jadzia and Lenara kissing as part of a larger gay agenda within Deep Space Nine. Many others, though, saw it as the inevitable conclusion of a tension-filled episode. One moment, Jadzia is softly breathing on the side of Lenara’s neck. The next, Lenara can barely stop herself from throwing herself into Jadzia’s arms. They were the closest to gay representation that Star Trek fans could hope for at the time, and it made what followed a bitter pill to swallow. Jadzia and Lenara parted ways, Jadzia died, and Ezri (Nicole de Boer) took her place as the next Dax symbiont.
Many called foul over Ezri’s ability to slide back into Jadzia’s role on DS9 without consequences from other Trill scientists. They took that as a sign that Jadzia and Lenara could have stayed together all along. Yet, perhaps the heartbreaking elements of the episode are just as important as the romantic ones. Fans knowing the relationship was doomed from the start helped give it the impact it needed to have, with gay viewers especially. Regardless, Jadzia and Lenara holding each other as their lips met in a passionate kiss had viewers talking for years. It might have even been the catalyst for the representation of gay characters in Star Trek for many years to come.