But half of the audience felt that this scene actually denied the legitimacy of same-sex relationships. For my part, I agree with the former group. But it has always bothered me that almost nobody has looked at the episode from a transgendered perspective. The scenario maps quite nicely to a classic transgender story. Man and woman have a relationship.
Man has deep secret.
And when his secret becomes public, his body is changed. Woman loves the person inside, but doesn't know how she feels about the body outside. The woman still loves the person inside, but can't love the outward body, and they separate. To me, this is so obviously a transgender story, that I'm actually disappointed in the panel participants who ignored this reading. But, in my opinion, Jadzia hasn't lived up to that potential.