Actor-activist George Takei says former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2005 veto of a gay marriage bill prompted him to publicly come out gay.

Schwarzenegger vetoed the legislation on September 29, delivering on a promise he had made earlier.

Appearing on HuffPost Live, Takei told host Josh Zepps that he started to come out to family and a few friends in the late 70s, but he didn't go public until 2005.

“In 2005, I spoke to the press primarily because my blood was boiling,” Takei said. “Something extraordinary happened in California. By that time Massachusetts had marriage equality but it came through the judicial route. In California, both houses of our legislature, the Senate and the Assembly, passed a same-sex marriage bill. It went to the governor's desk. When the governor, who happened to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, ran for the office he campaigned saying, 'I'm from Hollywood. I've worked with gays and lesbians. I'm comfortable with gays and lesbians.' I thought surely he would sign the bill. But he was a Republican and he played to the arch conservative sector of his constituency and vetoed it.”

Takei went on to say that a lot of work remains on gay rights. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)