Gay Sulu
Actor George Takei of Star Trek fame has come out of the closet
recently and announced his gayness to the world. The actor
played the character of Sulu the helmsman on the TV show Star
Trek and later in the movies based on the television series.
Takei, in his announcement, cited the fact that society has
changed to such an extent that he no longer felt he had to
conceal his sexual orientation. But mostly, I believe, he knew
that it wasn't going to negatively affect his career as much as
it might have, both because of the more tolerant atmosphere in
the United States and also because being a pretty old guy by
this time with money in the bank, his career is undoubtedly
winding down. If he has a career at all.
He had been slated to appear in the last Star Trek movie with
the original cast in a very small part, but he found out that
were he to decline this part, the writers would make a reference
to Captain Sulu having his own Star Ship. Which is what he
decided to do. The other Star Trek actors roundly criticized him
for turning down a real-life role paying actual money so that
the fictional character he used to play could get an imaginary
promotion. I'm guessing that he knew that whatever lasting fame
and immortality he would ever have was tied to the character of
Sulu and he wants his obituary to read that he played the role
of Captain Sulu instead of merely Commander Sulu. It also shows
a lot of dedication to the creative process to pass on real
cash.
I'd read his autobiography a number of years ago. Obviously he
hadn't made any reference to his lifestyle back then, but I do
recall him saying that it was difficult for a Japanese actor to
get any roles aside from 'houseboy' in plays and movies. Kids,
back in those days every gay man was an actor. Every single one
of them (for the most part), every single day had to pretend
that he was straight and not acknowledge the thoughts and
desires that were illegal in all fifty states. It's no surprise
that so many of them chose to get paid for what they were doing
already for free.
Star Trek for it's time was extremely ground breaking merely for
showing an egalitarian work place where men and women and people
from different countries and ethnic groups worked side by side.
That work place did not exist in the mid 1960's and to even show
it as a possibility was controversial. Portraying openly gay
characters would have been entirely beyond the pale.
If you look at old time TV shows and movies you can see that
there were gay characters portrayed, but only for comic relief.
You know, look at those funny men who act like women - that sort
of thing.
My belief is that a lot of the 'buddy' movies of the past were
actually code for gay relationships. Look at Abbot and Costello.
Don't tell me that those two men weren't involved in a loving
monogamous relationship. Or Hope and Crosby. Why were they
always on the road to somewhere or the other? It was because
they would keep getting run out of town for their deviant ways
and had to take to the road. Martin and Lewis? Okay. Sure there
was always a lot of talk about Dean and his women - so maybe he
was Bi - but you always, always knew who his first love was,
didn't you? At the end of the movie, who did Dean Martin end up
with?
And the three stooges, what was their story? Why were these
three men always together everywhere? Well, I've got the answer
and it's simple if you think about it: Gay swingers.