George Takei is well-known for playing one of the most important Asian Star Trek characters, Hikaru Sulu, as well as becoming a cultural icon and a political activist. In the actor’s personal life, he carried a secret about being gay that he didn’t disclose to the public until he was 68. The Star Trek icon has gotten real about what coming out was like for him and why he felt “a sense of guilt” for years after.
Star Trek (which is streaming on your Paramount+ subscription) was ahead of its time in the 1960s, sending the message of the future with its diverse casting on the USS Enterprise. However, showrunner Gene Roddenberry felt he had to stay away from LGBT issues for fear of the show getting cancelled.
If Gene Roddenberry felt portraying queer characters wouldn’t have fared well on television in the ‘60s, you can imagine why one of its stars, George Takei, didn’t come out until 2005. With his 20-year relationship with husband Brad Altman kept private, and watching his close friends die of AIDS, Takei told USA Today why keeping his sexuality a secret came with “a sense of guilt.” He said:
Here I am protecting my job, my career, what I want to do, while others who had the same difference that I did were sacrificing all that and actively engaging with the larger society and making progress.
I understand very well George Takei’s perspective. While ‘60s television was bold with Star Trek showing the first interracial kiss and The Twilight Zone capturing themes of racism and war, actors did not come out during that era to protect their careers. It must have been very frustrating for the Los Angeles native to feel like he had to hide. He described that period as feeling just as “imprisoned” as when he grew up in the Japanese internment camps with his family behind barbed wire.
Two decades after coming out, George Takei certainly isn’t holding back about his sexuality. When gay marriage became legal in California in 2008, the American actor and Brad Altman were the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license. He also just came up with a new graphic novel, It Rhymes with Takei, about his life-changing decision to come out. With the LGBT rights activist being out and proud, Takei continued to talk about how it felt showing his “whole self” to the world:
It feels very liberating. I don’t have to be on my guard, kind of mentally fencing and saying what I want to say but without giving myself away. I developed that skill, but now I don’t need to. I can be candid and forthright.
Actors may have to portray other people when the cameras are on, but in their own personal lives, they shouldn’t have to be anyone but their authentic selves, free to love their partners without worrying about their careers or judgment.
While the ‘60s Star Trek may not have had LGBT themes, that changed in the J.J. Abrams reboot series when George Takei’s character, played by John Cho, was written as gay. While the intentions of having Hikaru Sulu as gay were a nod to the first actor who played him, Takei had a mixed reaction to the character change. While he wasn’t opposed to LGBT representation being shown on the USS Enterprise, he would have preferred an original character to be gay compared to his own.
Fortunately, the actor’s wishes were honored as he was pleased with Star Trek: Discovery’s original gay character, Anthony Rapp’s Lieutenant Stamets. It proves that change can take time, with both legacy and progress being respected.
George Takei may have felt “a sense of guilt” keeping his sexuality quiet for all of these years, but finally coming out decades later turned out to be a “very liberating” experience for him. Now that The Big Bang Theory guest star is open about his sexuality, he’s shown no fear lending his voice towards the equality of the LGBT community as well as in his personal graphic novels. It’s truly inspiring for Takei to use his platform to inspire the kind of change he once felt powerless to make.