Mr. Sulu steps out of the closet
 

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From the Advocate website...
Bravo and congrats to him. I would think it's easy enough to come out after most of your career is behind you... Sort of like Richard Chamberlain... Still, it's terrific to see, since in the USA/Hollywood so far it's really only the ladies who have had the guts to come out...(Unlike in the UK, where some of the best known, respected and successful actors can be out...)

I wonder what Sulu sound clip montages Stern will be playing tomorrow

So this is why Sulu could never steer the ship straight! :)

Seriously though, this shouldn't be a shock to anyone that's met George Takei or followed his career closely. I mean, would a straight guy be caught doing this:

http://www.barbneal.com/GRAPHICS/sulu.gif



Now if Richard Gere would only fess up. ;)

Oh myyyyy.

So true. When I read the subject, my immediate reaction was, "I knew it!" I mean, have you seen those shirts he wears?

Seriously, he's one of my favorites from the franchise. Along with De and Jimmy, he really has been good to the fans over the years, and of all the biographies floating around, I thought To the Stars was by far the most well-written and interesting.

das

For whatever reason, his appearance on 3rd Rock from the Sun just keeps popping in my head when I think about this.

I'm having a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around this. I absolutely respect his personal choice, but it makes me wonder how many other people kept quiet about this for so long. I guess I know how people felt when they found out about somebody like Rock Hudson.

rotfl

...You are NOT Ricardo Montalban...
hot..wet...BITCHES!

I've met him. Didn't ever occur to me that he was gay. But it's not like I gave it much thought either.

I met him at a comic convention years ago. He was walking around drinking a glass of wine and I asked him for an autograph. Sadly, the only thing I had for him to autograph was the DC Comics Who's Who in the Star Trek Universe. :o

:jawdrop:
I can't believe it! That's like saying Dr. Smith from "Lost In Space" is gay!

Like two nights ago on Adam Carolla's show when Andy Dick was guest, they included George Takei in a game of "Dead or Alive or Gay".

They proclaimed him Alive and Straight, and said they had confirmed the info with Takei's publicist.

"He's gay Jim!" :)

I have seen the shirts he wears.

I thought gay artists were actually... good at their craft. :)

how could we not have known:

http://jc1701.com/georgetakei_x.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/atlsf/d...the%20Joke.JPG

no comment needed

I'll be the brave one and say, "I had no fucking clue."

Say hello to my Papillon, Lauren Leblanca

Good for him. :up: Although to be honest I wonder who didn't know. :lol:

I'm still not buyin' that one adamblast. Male or Female I think now in America is a great time to be out in the Biz. Can any male actor who has come out HONESTLY say it has hurt their career? Even when actors are -Rumored- to be gay most people simply don't give a shit and just want to see them do well in good movies. Gay Actors from Europe have huge fanbases here and no one cares about their being gay. Look at Ian McKellan, Rupert Everett, Alan Cummings, just to name a successful few. They all do just fine here and again, no one cares about them being Openly Gay.

I still say <b>Rob Halford of Judas Priest</b> has more guts than any Actor in Hollywood coming out because he came out in world of Heavy Metal where the Males are far less forgiving when it comes to -ANY- kind of change. But you know what? He didn't lose any fans because he's awesome and everyone knows it. We stuck by him. In fact, according to him, the real surprise was THE LACK of support form the Gay Community. He said he was expecting them to embrace him but they didn't. He says the music genre probably had a lot to do with that lack of support.

But I guess if they want to play victim, like Ellen did when she blamed Homophobia for her crap show getting canned, then I guess we wait a little longer for progress in the area of Gay issues in this country....

Serious question: Is it national coming out week or something? Why are so many people coming out recently?

Agreed on all counts. I never even gave it a thought.

Put me in the "not at all surprised" camp. Now imagine what Star Trek would have been had he been gay in the series!

Ok, I could have sworn that Takei came out years ago. I read the news story and was like "Yeah, and...?" I've known it for years.

Well..i've never seen a Star Trek movie...but I saw a clip and that was enough for me to know he was a big 'ol mo. ;)

Huh. Good for him.

Well good for George Takai! :toast:

I always suspected anyway (no wife or kids at 60+) and he bravely came out of the closet.

Hollywood is populated with gay people, but many of them are in denial as if their careers would be ruined if their "unconventional" sex lives are exposed.

Why is it in Europe, nobody gives a f**k about an actor's sexual orientation?

I disagree completely. There is still a HUGE closet in Hollywood. Music industry is a different arena. Name one openly gay actor that has had a huge blockbuster hit besides Ian McKellan. It is still a huge stigma in Hollywood to have that attached to your name, unfortunately, so people are still going around hiding. So I have to give big kudos to anyone in that industry who comes out.

And I had absolutely no idea about George Takai, but I haven't really followed his career since Star Trek.

Hollywood is populated by homosexuals and it is also populated by Jews as well, but Jewish people are more open about their cultural identity than gay people are about their private sex lives. I assume homophobia is still a major issue in America.

I guess homosexuals hiding in the closet in Hollywood now is comparable to Jews hiding their religious roots in Hollywood during the 1920s and 1950s.

And I assume stereotyping is still a major issue from wherever you are from.

Not really, what are you talking about? There are many kinds of people in Hollywood from many kinds of cultural or religious backgrounds. Who cares where they came from?

I'm just saying that some people, for what ever personal reasons, hid their identity so that they were "accepted" by American society in the 1920s/30s. I don't care about that, but some people at the time obviously did.

I never gave Takai's possible sexual orientation any thought, but I have to admit that for some reason I wasn't at all surprised when I heard the news.

Because we're living in a seriously fucked up country and Europe is a helluva lot more progressive than we are about things like this. Look at the rights gays get in those countries and look here. It's pathetic and to make matters worse, we're not even attempting at making it better here. Our asshat president keeps trying to make it worse. End of story.

I think he has the sexiest voice I have ever heard. But I never really thought of him before as gay or straight. But still hot.

Giantrobo-- All the actors you mentioned are the exact same ones I was thinking of when I said it's much more acceptable in the UK than in Hollywood. Among gay men in Hollywood, the thinking seems to be: if I can be even marginally more successful lying or avoiding the issue, it's worth it. It's all about the career and the bottom line.

I'd say the the case of Sean Hayes is the perfect textbook example. He's been playing gay characters his whole career, and everyone more-or-less knows the truth about him, but he still thinks he improves his castability by refusing to admit he's really gay in interviews. Jerk. What he's really doing is helping to maintain and build the walls of shame and discrimination.

How about Nathan Lane? You think he's out of the closet? He may have been "out" before he hit it big--just like Anderson Cooper of CNN--but today he plays it coy instead of actually being out: I'm single, I'm over 40, and I work in Musical Theatre. You do the math. He makes a joke out of it and deflects the issue, and is only willing to help on gay rights issues behind the scenes. *That's* the current state of Hollywood. Open secrets, when not outright lying, and a denial that there are any social and political repercussions to the decision to hide.

I was thinking the same thing!

Just Announced:

Ozzie Guillen is gay too...... That kiss after the World Series win confirms it

Yes, National Coming Day is Oct 17th, so it was probably last week...

Um, no, though I appreciate you're just trying to be funny... He sure does love him some man-kisses, though. Then again, so does Beckham. "Anything goes" out on the field, evidentally, and some guys are more into the smootches, hugs, and ass-grabs than others. The gay blogs have been having a field day with Ozzie photos, but it's pretty much all in fun.