I’ve only seen a little bit of The Orville. I liked what I saw, but can understand that there could be a lot I wouldn’t care for.
I’d have to see the episode to render a judgement, but you did right to make it a vanity. This sort of discussion is what vanities were made for, I think.
The closest reference for comparison that I have to your episode is one from The Next Generation where Worf, who had been established by that point in the series that anyone could kick his azz, beat up a “gay” security guard on some planet. It didn’t make Worf look tough so much as make a “gay” alien look especially frail.
I didn’t care for that episode, either, as it was built up to be an episode that was supposed something positive about gays but simply fell flat as a poor episode. Maybe it did say something positive after all, but all my friends and I can remember is that Worf beat up a weak alien in a forgettable Next Generation episode.
Overall, The Next Generation was a bitter disappointment after having all but memorized every original Star Trek episode. From that annoying "empath" what's-her-name, who embodied the most annoying qualities of every therapist who follows up every patient's statement with "Okay, now tell me how you feel about that" to that extraordinarily wimpy captain whose manliness was totally eclipsed by that of Captain Janeway of Voyager, TNG came across as an utterly unbelievable deluge of effete socialists' unworkable pipe dreams.