Star Trek couples who rejected cultural differences to be together

Key things

• Star Trek promotes endless diversity through cross-species romance.
• Gene Roddenberry used the permit to comment on cultural issues.
• Star Trek couples show that love conquers all odds.

From the beginning, the goal of Star Trek was to show people that the future could be a better place if everyone embraced the Vulcan philosophy: “Infinite variety in infinite combinations.” Philosophy is so important Star Trekthat words expressing it became a mantra for the franchise and all it stood for. One of the many ways the franchise has expressed this endless diversity in endless combinations is through cross-species romances. Many relationships throughout the series have begun and thrived across cultural differences and across lines of conflict.

Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator, often stated that he used science fiction as a way to comment on 1960s culture in a way that traditional dramas could not due to government censorship. So it makes sense that many of the relationships he portrayed on screen involved different kinds. These began as a thinly veiled allegory of interracial relationships, showing beings falling in love despite their cultural differences or conflicts between their societies. This theme continued in the Trek shows created after his death.

In the latest episode Star Trek: The Lower Decks“Gods and Angles”, an interspecies love story literally ended a generational war between two photonic species, cubes and spheres. Although Star Trek lovers of interspecies and crossover conflicts did not always end wars, showed Trekkies that love really does conquer all. Here are some Star Trek couples who rejected cultural differences and crossed the lines of conflict to be together.

T'Pol and Trip

Business

Although Star Trek: Enterprise aired decades after Star Trek: The Original Serieschronicles the events of the first human mission into deep space, nearly a century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission. Trekkies have seen many interspecies romances before Sub-Commander T'Pol and Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker got together. However, they were the first main human-alien couple in Star Trek timeline.

In the year 2100 when Business takes place, humans and Vulcans were allies but not friends. The Vulcans strictly controlled human space exploration and viewed humans as an inferior species. Although Vulcans are known for their flat affects, even their strict emotional control could not hide their contempt for humans. And people didn't like Vulcans anyway. They saw them as oppressive overseers, delaying their progress through the galaxies.

In the midst of all this interspecies strife, Sub-Commander T'Pol was assigned to work on the Enterprise NX-01, where Commander Tucker was the Chief Engineer. Although they didn't like each other at first, they served together and risked their lives together. In doing so, they followed the classic “enemy to lover” arc right into each other's beds.

Their romance explored the significant challenges faced by couples whose cultures are very different from each other. The story is all too familiar to people who have fallen in love with someone from a distant land or a religion far removed from their own. T'Pol had to face the scorn of her parents when she refused an arranged marriage, and Trip had to endure the merciless judgment of the Vulcans, who saw him as a second-class citizen.

Through it all, their love grew and flourished. However, it ended in tragedy after the loss of their genetically modified child. They never had a chance to rekindle it, as Trip sacrificed himself to save the crew of the Enterprise NX-01.

Sarek and Amanda

The original series; Discovery

About half a century after T'Pol and Trip's romance, the most famous Vulcan-human romance began. Sarek met Amanda Grayson while serving as a Vulcan ambassador to Earth. The two fell in love and married while Sarek was on Earth, but returned to Vulcan shortly after. Although they loved each other deeply, Sarek's expression of that love was limited by his Vulcan devotion to logic.

Being human on Vulcan was difficult for Amanda. She had to learn to hide her emotions and settle for the subtle expressions of love that Sarek could give her. Amanda also faced constant criticism from the Vulcans, who despised her humanity and thought she was a poor match for Sarek, especially since he held such a high position on his home planet. Having a human wife was also difficult for Sarek. He faced constant judgment for choosing a human wife and was often mocked for being “too human”, a serious insult in Vulcan society.

Although disagreements over their marriage often put a strain on their relationship, Sarek and Amanda's enduring love kept them together throughout. They raised two children together – their biological child Spock and foster child Michael Burnham.

Rom and Leeta

Deep Space Nine

Rom, a Fereng who lived on Deep Space Nine, was raised with his brother on Ferenginar, where women were considered little more than the property of their husbands. Honorable Ferengi women never wore dresses, served their male partners and children to the point of even chewing food for them, and were forbidden by law to own property of their own.

Leeta, a Bajoran woman who worked as a Dabo girl on Deep Space Nine, was the epitome of independence. She worked to take care of herself, dated whoever she wanted, and never took orders from anyone but her boss, Rom's brother Quark. And even those orders she reluctantly accepted.

Their unlikely romance blossomed when Rom, who also worked for his brother, decided to start a union and Leeta joined. She waited months for Rom to ask her out, but it wasn't until she almost left Deep Space Nine that he got up the courage.

When he asked her out, their passion grew exponentially, but they soon found their cultural differences difficult to manage. Although Rom was not as committed to Ferengi culture as most of his kin, he still expected Leeta to act like a proper, submissive Ferengi woman. When she refused, Rom had to decide if he loved her enough to reject his cultural expectations.

Fortunately, he made the right decision. Rom and Leeta were married on Deep Space Nine during the Domino War, and their love for each other endured during their separation during the war. After the war, Rom was appointed Grand Nagus and he and Leeta moved to Ferenginar. Leeta helped implement feminist reforms on Ferenginar and eventually ruled alongside Roma.

Benjamin Sisko and Kasidy Yates

Deep Space Nine

Although Captain Benjamin Sisko and Kasidy Yates did not have to contend with obstacles to interspecies love, their love had to endure both different political and religious beliefs. Soon after they began dating, Captain Sisko discovered that Kasidy was smuggling supplies to the Maquis, a resistance cell opposed to Starfleet. Even though he was beginning to love Kasidy, Sisko had to betray her and she went to prison.

While this would have ended most relationships, Sisko and Kassidy rekindled their relationship once she was out of prison. Both decided that their mutual betrayals were not enough to stop their love, and eventually married.

However, their relationship faced another major obstacle soon after. Being an emissary of the Bajoran Prophets, Sisko decided that it was his destiny to join the Prophets in the wormhole that led to the Gamma Quadrant. He promised Kasidy that he would return to help her raise their unborn child, and Kasidy promised to wait for him. When they left each other, it seemed that their love would withstand another unimaginable challenge. But fans will never know for sure because Sisko's story ended there.

These couples showed up Star Trek fans who love, can spark, catch and keep burning through all kinds of challenges and despite all kinds of differences. And that's one of the many reasons why the franchise means so much to its fans and the world.