Set phasers to “read.”
To coincide with Pride Month, Star Trek icon George Takei has documented his journey as a gay man in a new memoir in graphic novel form called It Rhymes With Takei. As he reveals in the book, Takei came out at age 68 because he was furious that California’s 2005 same-sex marriage bill had been vetoed. But there was another reason, too.
“It was rage, but it was also guilt, because progress was being made and all these people … gave up their jobs, their careers, some their families, and were out advocating for equality for LGBTQ people,” Takei tells ABC Audio. “And here I am protecting my career.”
As Takei relates in the book, he was closeted for years because back in the day, an actor outed as gay might find himself permanently out of show business. In addition, there was always the fear of arrest by overzealous law enforcement.
“There is a full, rich, turbulent, fraught story to our achievement,” Takei says of gay history. “And it’s happening again with the transgender community, so it’s a very relevant story to our times.”
And telling that story in graphic novel form is an effort to reach as many people as possible, says Takei.
“I wanted to reach young people. But then I realized that there are older people who find it difficult to read, but they’ll look at comic books,” he explains.
Takei also hopes the history he relates in the book will hit home in the current political climate.
“The whole LGBTQ movement is under threat,” he says. Then, using a Star Trek reference, he notes, “Things in politics go in cycles, and now we have that Klingon in the White House who is making it a real challenge. And that means we’ll have to get galvanized again.”
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