During that 1995/96 television season, the number of homosexual characters appearing in major television series increased, so the same-sex kiss in "Rejoined" was reviewed in this context. An article published by the Associated Press suggested that the kiss in "Deep Space Nine" was not truly a same-sex kiss due to "extenuating circumstances", namely, one of the characters was an "alien who used to be a man". A similar opinion was offered by Jan Johnson-Smith, author of "American Science Fiction TV", who said that the situation was "ambiguous", as despite presenting a same-sex kiss, the episode was clear that Jadzia was "actually kissing the symbiont who has the memories of the former host, her male lover , not the current female host". (In actuality, Dax was the male-bodied husband while married to Kahn, who was then in a female host.)