From Internee to Star Trek to Same-Sex Activist: George Takei Born
George Takei was born to a Japanese-American family in California on this day. During World War II, he and his family were evacuated from the West Coast and interned as part of the government’s evacuation and internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans. With an interest in theater, he eventually starred in the famous television series, Star Trek, as Mr. Sulu.
Takei later held a number of public positions in California.
He also became an outspoken advocate of lesbian and gay rights and, on September 14, 2008, he married his partner, Brad Altman.
In November 2015 George Takei appeared on Broadway in a musical, Allegiance, about the Japanese-American internment.
Watch George Takei take on an anti-Gay Tennessee Law: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRkIWB3HIEs
Hear George Takei discuss the Japanese American internment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yogXJl9H9z0
Read: George Takei, To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu (1994)
Check out George’s web site: http://www.georgetakei.com/
Read about the history of the GLBT revolution: Lillian Faderman, The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle (2015)