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Takei struggled with "feeling ashamed because you’re Japanese-American, and feeling like you’re different because of your [homosexuality]," he tells Frontiers. "And then [as you grow older], with reading, and talking to other people, your understanding of the situation starts to grow."

"And you think, 'It’s wrong, this [shame] is not right.' And you start sharing it with more people, and you find other friends and organizations."

Until eventually, he says, "you come to realize 'This is who I am. And by gum, I’m not going to let it be a constraint!' In the same way that I’m not going to let the fact that I am a Japanese-American, who was unjustly incarcerated and grew up with that, be a constraint."

It was through one of those organizations, the L.A. gay runners club Front Runners, that he met his partner Brad. A runner since his junior-high days (Takei has run in six marathons), he saw an ad for the club and decided to try it out.

He and Brad began to train together, and then, "we discovered that we had common interests in the theatre—he was a journalist—we’d go to plays together and, you know, things happen," Takei laughs.

Takei's been open about his sexuality to his family for several years. While one sibling still has a problem with him being gay, Takei's mother seems to have made her peace with it. "My mother, initially, had some adjustments to make, but she got to like Brad very much," he tells Frontiers. "She got Alzheimer’s, and it got very difficult for her, so we moved her in with us. Brad was wonderful. He was a saint."

Takei believes that American society has become more tolerant on several fronts, there is still a long way to go. "[Our society has] changed incredibly from the time I was a teenager to today, both in terms of Asian-Americans in the theater and television and films, but also for gays and our self-image, and the ability to move in our society."

But, he adds, "We talk about diversity, ethnic diversity, but there’s another kind of diversity [sexual orientation] that we haven’t really come to grips with as a society."

As one of the first high-profile Asian American actors on TV, Takei played a role in improving the self-image of Asian Americans. Behind the scenes on Star Trek, he pushed for his character to be promoted to Captain, believing that "the diversity of our planet must be represented onboard the ships of Starfleet", as he told Brazilian Star Trek fan site Trek Today.

By coming out, he will help to improve the self-image and visibility of gay Asian Americans, as well.

Read Takei's coming-out interview in full at Frontiers magazine or find more coverage of Takei's coming-out at allgaynews.com

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