![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/eb8bef0a-5156-448b-803b-6676d59e57b9.png)
![](https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/6d72a462-e85e-408a-861f-c16ac6e81d71.png)
Right, but that’s a completely different thing than you were arguing. The likelihood of a character being queer is a Watsonian question about demographics of a space station, whereas whether it’s plot relevant is a Doylist question about themes and conservation of narrative. And given that Garrick was originally conceived as a queer character and the actor has explicitly stated that he wanted the character to be queer, but Rick Berman insisted that this not be done and instead wrote in a weird love story between him and young girl, I actually think it’s pretty f****** relevant to discussions around the culture of the show.
It’s also incredibly cheap to produce, requiring no unusual props or location shooting, and generally tolerable to those who aren’t interested in the kink, so it’s a relatively safe bet economically