Good question, Leaper. If I was being super-optimistic, I would say “maybe it’ll move the debate beyond ‘you’re born gay’ vs. ‘it’s a choice,’ since it’s not an either/or situation at all.”
Hell, if those kinds of statements could get more time in the media I think it would go a ways in advancing human non-stupidness.
You didn’t know?
Turn in your Starfleet ID card !!:mad: :mad: :mad:
I had heard that if asked about it by fans at conventions, he would say he’s proud to be a Japanese American, and proud to be gay. I’m surprised this is news to Trek fans.
Not that I want to take anything away from GT and this interview, but AFAIK it’s been fairly common knowledge for over a decade that he’s gay.
And, apropos of nothing, back in the day GT was beautiful. Not that he’s still not an attractive man, but damn, he was gorgeous.
Count me among those surprised. Not that I really give a toot about his sexual orientation, but this is as much of a non sequiter as Oprah announcing she’s a vegetarian.
George Takei is gay? No! No! NOOOOOOOO!!! KHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!
Wait a minute … wait a minute … I’m completely OK with Takei being gay. I had him confused with that other guy … never can tell them apart … oh, yeah … Patrick Stewart.
Well, heck, I never got the memo.
How am I supposed to keep up with this stuff if nobody sends me the memos?
Takei’s gay?
Oh, my…
He liked Arkansas! He played with tadpoles and enjoyed the snow. Wow.
When he refered to his Naked Time performance as like a gay Cavillier I always assumed he meant gay in the olde English way…
Well good for him. Hopefully one day there will be no need for announcements like this. People will just not care one way or the other.
The thing that surprises me the most is that he was in an internment camp in WWII. I don’t know why this surprises me, it just proves I’ve never done the math wit the cast of TOS.
I read in one of the old fanbooks about the show that when they did that episode, Takei really got into it, swashbuckling all over the set . . . “the entire production crew threatened to quit, en masse, if anyone ever put a sword in George’s hand again.”
I can think of no way to do such a straight line justice, so I’ll just let it lie there.
No it didn’t. :dubious:
It’s been an open secret among Trekkies for years.
We’ve figured he was gay for years, not that we cared one way or another. Mostly we’ve just always liked him for his kindness to fans. I remember taking the kids to see him at a Star Trek convention years ago, when they were both pre-teen, and he always took time to be so gracious to everyone, even the kid who asked him, “So how does it feel to really pilot a starship?” No mockery whatsoever, even though most of us in the audience were cringing; he just gently tried to explain the difference between reality and, y’know, that thing called fiction to the kid.
And it’s well that you did, BrainGlutton, as I’m already cleaning orange juice off my monitor and keyboard, thank *you *very much. 
Get your 10:1 odds that there’ll be a new Takei book on shelves within one year.
I just hate that he was so afraid of Jimmy Doohan beating him up he had to wait til he was dead to come out.
What would you call a book about coming out as a STAR TREK actor?
My suggestions:
The Guy Who Beams Me Up
and
My Sex Life: Warp Factor 9
Yours?
To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before?
Editing the Captain’s Log?
Sulu was my favorite character on TOS, and I like how Takei played him low key amidst all the hams on that show. I’d have liked to see a movie or miniseries based on that Starship Sulu was commanding in some of the movies. (I can’t remember the name of it.) I thought he made a good no-nonsense Captain compared to Kirk or Picard. But I guess he’s a little long in the tooth for that to happen now.
Count me in among those surprised by the revelation. With 20-20 hindsight I guess he activates my “gaydar” but I never really thought about it at all.
I don’t think this is from left field at all. Although it shouldn’t matter one bit what someone’s orientation is sexually, so congratulations to him for saying something in the press. Maybe it’ll help people figure it isn’t shameful or bad to be gay.