George Takei (Sulu) is Gay

George Takei, the actor who played helmsman Hikaru Sulu on the original Star Trek series, has announced that he is gay. Takei played the character of Sulu for all three seasons of the original series, as well as in the first six Star Trek movies. Currently performing in the play Equus, Takei said his role as psychologist Martin Dysart was the root of his decision to come out of the closet publicly, according to the Associated Press:

Takei described the character as a "very contained but turbulently frustrated man." The play opened Wednesday at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Los Angeles, the same day that Frontiers magazine featured a story on Takei's coming out.

The current social and political climate also motivated Takei's disclosure, he said.

"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."

The 68-year-old actor said he and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for 18 years.

I guess we now know why he didn't get along well with William Shatner. It wasn't because Shatner was getting all the lines. It was because he was getting all the girls.