SALON

Wednesday, Mar 31, 2010 5:23 PM UTC

George Takei: Pop culture punch line turned hero

Spokesman for gay rights, Howard Stern's unlikely ally -- the former Mr. Sulu keeps boldly going, and going

By

Topics: Gay Marriage,

George Takei: Pop culture punch line turned heroGeorge Takei in 2009.

Of all the great things to come out of “Star Trek” — Shatner, Klingon sideburns, nerd conventions — who’d have guessed that right near the top of the list we’d find George Takei?

The once and eternal Mr. Sulu, for years relegated to the status of trivia answer, has in recent years attained a level of effortless cool that could annihilate an entire barful of Williamsburg hipsters. (Can we at least get him to try?) He’s an in-demand pitchman and a witty fixture on talk shows. He’s got a thriving acting career — he just landed a part in the new Tom Hanks movie. And, in a role so unlikely it almost makes sense, he’s a regular on “The Howard Stern Show.” But most winningly, he’s been able to parlay his role as part of a beloved cultural touchstone into not just a few more minutes of fame but a true platform for equality.

Since officially coming out of the closet five years ago, Takei became a deeply adored advocate of and spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, showing up on more Pride Parade floats than the leather flag. And, as one of the elite group of Californians who married in the brief period after the state permitted same-sex unions and before it reversed their right to do so, he’s become one of the most eloquent and high-profile voices of outrage over Proposition 8, calling it “a vote for discrimination.”

His causes don’t end at gay rights, though. Takei, who spent almost four years of his childhood in internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, is one of the founders and current board members of the Japanese American National Museum. But despite being a passionate voice against racial intolerance, he also cheerfully slips into the role of spokesman for Sharp’s new four-color technology — a system that introduces yellow. 

That’s the thing about Takei, a man who, well into his eighth decade, looks like he’s just hitting his stride — he knows how to pick his battles.  He’ll gladly joke, as he did on Howard Stern’s show on Tuesday, about all the anonymous sex he used to have in Central Park as a young man, saying, “You do some sleazy things in your wild years.” He’ll take ex-NBA star Tim Hardaway’s remarks that he hates gay people as an opportunity to declare that gay people love Hardaway anyway — in particular his “smooth chocolaty head, glazed in man sweat.” He’ll show up as half of “The Newlywed Game’s” first gay couple. And he’ll explain to same-sex partners how they can get themselves counted in the census, in an inimitably droll and slightly insane manner.

Why? Because he understands the disarming power of comedy for political change. Because he makes you see how ridiculous it is, even now, to detain Americans for their ethic heritage, how stupid and wrong it is to prevent two adults who love each from getting married. Because he’s funny. Because even if you’ve worn the Starfleet uniform, life for a 72-year-old gay Asian can’t always have been be a nonstop party of rainbows and tolerance. But with a mix of tireless advocacy, humor, and that fantastic, final frontier-ready voice, he’s a shining example of how to boldly go through the golden years. Betty White, you’ve got competition.

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 23 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
37 points38 points | comment
vote
"Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation": long, detailed narrative of legal and historical complications in red-white-black relations
27 points28 points | 1 comment
vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
5 points6 points | comment
vote
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer - I think that crackdown is ideologically driven and I think it’s hard to come to a different conclusion given the vigor with which this justice department has gone after people. So I think it is about a method of control that is badly misplaced.
3 points4 points | 6 comments
vote
So apparently the American government can weaponize the weather...
4 points5 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations