It will be revealed in Star Trek Beyond that the character of Sulu is gay and that he and his partner are raising a child. First gay regular in any Star Trek franchise, I believe.
I’m glad it’s Sulu. That works as a nice homage to George Takei.
Very nice. IIRC Sulu has a daughter who shows up in one of the movies. This ties in nicely with precedent.
Don’t know how Roddenberry actually felt about it, but if the times had been a little different a gay character would have made sense in his effort to have diverse characters on the show. I think if he had tried at the time the networks would have never allowed it.
Considering the time frame, there was no way it would have been allowed except in the most vague terms. It wasn’t until the 1972 that gay characters were portrayed on TV, and not until 1975 that they were regulars in a series. I’d also be surprised if Roddenberry had thought of it, since gays were far outside the mainstream.
I remember reading that Lt. Hawk in First Contact was intended to be gay but a lot of his extra character development didn’t make it to the final movie.
Star Trek has made efforts to include LGBT characters over the years but I think for the most part it’s been minor characters. Evil Major Kira was bi, but that was an alternate universe.
Just heard this today. Yay!
From what I read, George Takei pitched the idea to Roddenberry and he was more or less hip to it, as he liked tackling social justice issues but it’s tricky business on television. Kirk’s white/black kiss with Uhura got censored in the south and ratings dropped. You have to be careful not to go too far or you won’t have a show to say anything.
They tried many times in Star Trek, and it never really got anywhere until DS9. And then it had to be women and connected with some alien stuff where they were different sexes in the past. And they were bisexual, not gay.
There’s this guy watching Star Trek for the first time who wrote a review on it, and how refreshing it is for him, as a gay man, to finally see Star Trek actually tackle it, and not shy away.
Jadzia Dax is canon bisexual. And not from some evil universe or something.
All I can say is, it’s about time! And for it to be Sulu is a wonderful tribute to Takei.
It is a nice touch, and I like the tribute aspect.
Now hopefully they can make a Trek movie that doesn’t suck to include this reveal in … 
We may see Warp Drive before that happens.
I assume that Sulu, like Dumbledore, was always gay.
And also because it still cracks me up -
Well, the current movies are Star Trek Alternate Universe, though, after the time-travel reboot.
Let’s see, if Young Sulu entered the storyline before the reboot then he was presumably the same character as the Original Series Sulu, which means that if he’s gay now then he was presumably always gay starting with Original Series, but perhaps in the Original Series storyline he didn’t have a partner or child? Annnnd, now I’ve confused myself. I got nothin’.
Though if they really want to honor George Takei I think they should give John Cho a hot sex scene with his partner, played by Channing Tatum, but in green Orion makeup. Further, I think it’s what Gene would have wanted.
That’s… not how this reboot works. These are all different characters than the Original Series versions, in a different universe.
Sulu’s daughter was revealed in the movie Generations, so it’s canon that he had a daughter in the original timeline. They never definitely said if Sulu’s partner was a man or a woman, though. Although same-sex marriage wouldn’t be considered controversial or remarkable by the 23rd century.
I recall Uhura almost breaking the 4th wall when she stated that things in their universe could be completely different.
…except for Old Spock…
Yeah, I’m assuming that Sulu is always gay, just like Spock is always half-Vulcan, Scotty is always Scottish and Uhuru is still black. James T. Kirk is still aggressively heterosexual. There’s no reason that this Sulu isn’t the real Sulu.
Man, I hate time travel stories.
I think it’s what we all would have wanted.
Oh right. Um, I forget why? Is it because the timeline-disruption reboot actually happened with Kirk’s dad, before most of the main characters were born? I told you I was confused.