John Cho, the current actor to portray the iconic “Star Trek” character Sulu announced that Sulu will be openly gay in the upcoming “Star Trek Beyond” movie. Sulu will be seen with his same-sex partner, raising his daughter Demora. This was done in tribute to the original actor himself, George Takei, who came out in 2005 and has been a huge advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Many “Star Trek” fans, including those in the LGBTQ+ community, rejoiced as “Star Trek," a show always known for pushing the boundaries of diversity since its conception, was finally recognizing the LGBTQ+ community.
Most fans thought that George Takei would be happy to hear the news, but we soon found out that George Takei is very adamant against the idea of Sulu being gay.
“I’m delighted there’s a gay character,” he states in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s [the founder of 'Star Trek'] creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.”
George Takei goes on to talk about how much Gene Roddenberry put into making every single character, and that he envisioned Sulu as straight, and thus he would much rather there be a new character who is made to be LGBTQ+. He thinks “changing” Sulu’s sexuality, or implying that Sulu was closeted, would be disrespectful to the story -- especially on the 50th anniversary -- being that the whole of Gene’s vision revolved around coexistence and having a society with no discrimination of any kind.
Simon Pegg, co-writer of the upcoming film’s script and the current Scotty, respectfully disagreed with George.
Simon said, “Justin Lin, Doug Jung and I loved the idea of it being someone we already knew because the audience have a pre-existing opinion of that character as a human being, unaffected by any prejudice. Their sexual orientation is just one of many personal aspects, not the defining characteristic. Also, the audience would infer that there has been an LGBT presence in the 'Trek' Universe from the beginning…that a gay hero isn’t something new or strange. It’s also important to note that at no point do we suggest that our Sulu was ever closeted -- why would he need to be? It’s just hasn’t come up before.”
He goes on about how Gene wouldn’t have made the whole crew straight if he could, as it is a well-known fact that George and Gene had a very private conversation about including LGBTQ+ in “Star Trek,” but with the interracial kiss in “Plato’s Stepchildren” during its third season causing the show to have its lowest ratings, Gene felt he was walking a thin tightrope and was trying to keep the show on air. Simon Pegg argues that without the restraints of the time, Gene would have definitely have made one of the “Star Trek” crew LGTBQ+, and he is in fact honoring Gene’s vision.
To further the conversation, Zachary Quinto, the current actor to play Spock and an openly gay actor, voiced his disagreement with George Takei.
“I find as a member of the LGBT community myself, I was disappointed by the fact that George was disappointed,” Quinto stated in an interview with Pedestrian.TV. “I get it that he’s had his own personal relationship with this character, but, you know, as we established in the first 'Star Trek' film in 2009, we’ve created an alternate universe. And my hope is that eventually George can be strengthened by the enormously positive response from especially young people, who are heartened by and inspired by this really tasteful and beautiful portrayal of something that I think is gaining acceptance and inclusion in our societies across the world — and should be.”
Alternate universe or not, I personally think that the inclusion of Sulu's sexuality is not going against Gene’s vision, especially considering the fact that Sulu is East-Asian and LGBTQ+, knowing that in current cinema, most LGBTQ+ are white, with very few POC, especially Asian. With the new "Star Trek" being a Hollywood blockbuster, this in itself is Gene’s vision of pushing the boundaries of diversity, something that the "Star Trek" movies have, as of late, been lacking. Not to mention the fact that the current “Star Trek” movies have been less about social allegory, scientific accuracy, and a better future, but rather Hollywood popcorn action.
Sulu was never explicitly sexual in any of the original episodes except for “Mirror, Mirror," but that was his alternate reality evil copy, and not Sulu himself. While there was mention of his daughter Demora in the original series, who made an appearance in “Star Trek: Generations,” there was no mention of her conception except in a non-canon novel, "Captain's Daughter," which was, as George put it, "a one-night stand with a glamazon. A very athletic, powerful and stunningly gorgeous woman. That’s Demora’s mother."
So there’s no canon reference of his sexuality, and to say Sulu’s sexuality is being changed to gay is to assume he was straight to begin with. Maybe in Gene’s mind he had a backstory that Sulu was straight, but he never confirmed it either way, and the characters are out of his hands anyway.
