Out actor George Takei, who is best
known for his role as Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, thinks now is
the time for the movie franchise to include an LGBT character.
Speaking to Michigan gay weekly Pride
Source, Takei was asked, “Do you think we'll ever see an
out LGBT human on Star Trek?”
“I think now it's high time,” Takei
answered. “I did very quietly bring up the subject to (Star
Trek screenwriter) Gene Roddenberry when we were starting our
movie series – our feature film series – and he said with
television he had to walk a very tight rope. You know, we were
dealing with issues at that time – the civil rights movement, the
Vietnam War, the Cold War – and that episode where Kirk kissed
Uhura, a white man kissing a black woman, that was blacked out in all
of the Southern states: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Our ratings plummeted!”
“[Gene] said he knows that the LGBT
issue is a civil rights issue, but he had to keep the show on the air
as a television series, and if he pushed the envelope too far he
wouldn't be able to address any of the issues. He'd be canceled.
Same thing with feature films now: bigger budget, higher risk. And
he had said he's predicating a 23rd century when the LGBT issue would
not be an issue, but it is an issue of our times that we're dealing
with metaphorically in terms of science fiction and he wants to deal
with it and still be able to make movies. He had said he hopes for
the time that he will be able to do it.”
“Alas, Gene passed. It was in '91
that he passed, and we're 20 years-plus from that time. We've
advanced with unimagined speed, and I think now it is high time Star
Trek deal with the issue of LGBT equality. Now there are Star
Trek actors who are out. Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the
reboot, came out, and I am out.”
“With the two of us out, it is now
safe for Star Trek to deal with LGBT equality,” Takei added.