- Star Trek is a huge cinematic franchise. It is huge. It has thousands of fans of all different ages. This is a huge, huge step for diversity in wide spread cinema.
- The writers says Sulu will have a husband and a daughter. Not only will he be happy, he will have a family, he will have a KID. Considering how bleak LGBT representation has been this year alone, having a happy little girl with two Daddys is incredible.
- Science fiction does not tend to be an area where we have LGBT representation.
- Sulu is a main character. He has been an important part of the series and is a major badass.
- John Cho is Korean- American, so not only are we having LGBT representation but POC - LGBT representation!
- Star Trek have announced Sulu’s sexuality before the film is even out. So therefore giving a big fuck you to any homophobes who now won’t go see the film. Zero fucks given.
- And best of all: the original actor who played Sulu came out in 2005 as a gay man - Sulu being gay is paying respect to real life events. How cool is that?
i’m honestly really emotional about the sulu reveal in star trek because finally, finally, we have a character in a major mainstream film that isn’t a its-so-hard-being-gay-we’re-cheating-on-our-spouses-its-so-scandalous-and-sad oscar-bait drama. finally, hollywood might be recognizing that gay people can exist in universes other than sad, reality-laden ones that end in tragic death. we’ve taken the first step, into sci-fi, and it’s an incredible feeling.
now, all we can do is hope that other major studios take the hint.
Hopefully Sulu being gay will mean that Lucasfilms will feel like they have to one up Star Trek and add more gay characters. A chain reaction of making every character LGBT+ just because of rivalry.
During a promotional event in Australia, John Cho confirmed that beloved Star Trek character Hikaru Sulu is gay.
Sulu was originally played by George Takei, who in later life has become a prominent activist for LGBT rights. In a tribute to his ongoing legacy as an icon of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Beyond writer Simon Pegg and director Justin Lin decided make Sulu canonically gay in the upcoming movie.
“I liked [Pegg and Lin’s] approach, which was not to make a big thing out of it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one’s personal orientations,” Cho said.
