George Takei: TN teachers can't say 'gay'? Use my name!

[NYC Liberal]

In case you missed it : TN bill willprevent use of word "gay" by teachers. I'm lending my name: "It's okay to be Takei."

https://twitter.com/#!/GeorgeTakei/status/62266108043997184

[Thunderstruck]

1. I just love George! Captain Sulu indeed!

[whoneedstickets]

2. Genius! They'll eventually publish a list of useable words..

..such foolishness.

[Newsjock]

3. Three cheers for Takei and O'Donnell Americans everywhere

n/t

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lithos]

4. George is a treasure...

It is indeed okay to be gay, or Takei.

L-

[onehandle]

5. Funny. Good for George. 'Oh My.' nt

[Taverner]

6. George couldn't be a classier guy!

:thumbsup:

[Aristus]

14. Harlan Ellison once said that George Takei was the most charming man he'd ever met.

This, from a man who does not praise lightly...

[cabot]

17. that is big

i love harlan ellison and have rarely ever heard him praise another human being. :)

[dballance]

34. Harlan Ellison is a rabid, anti-gay Morman

He deserves no mention in the service to gay people.

[Dr. Strange]

35. I'll agree with the "rabid" part...

but anti-gay and Mormon? I hadn't heard that before. Are you sure?

[bengalherder]

37. Considering Ellison is famously Jewish

and very liberal, I think the poster is confusing him with someone else, see below.

[bengalherder]

36. I think you are thinking of Orson Scott Card.

Ellison is neither anti-gay nor mormon and the slightest familiarity with his work would rid you of the notion. He can be an asshole, sure, but there's probably many folk, your own heroes among them, who can be downright pushy at times.

[Dr. Strange]

38. Yeah, Card sounds much more like the description.

[TygrBright]

46. Sounds more like it. Card is a famous libertarian fascist.

And no, in his case, that is NOT a contradiction in terms.

Pity.

Waste of a good writing talent.

dismissively,
Bright

[Cronus Protagonist]

67. Dammit! I just bought five of his books

I saw his picture on the back of the books and I thought he looked Takei... if I'd known he was a wingnut, I would have never bought them in the first place.

[Ferret Annica]

78. He is a great writer and his works are worth the price

He's Jewish; don't believe everything you read. In fact, feel free to check on this malicious gossip yourself if you like.

[TygrBright]

121. Orson Scott Card is a Mormon. Harlan Ellison is, indeed Jewish. n/t

[hifiguy]

63. +1

I've met Harlan several times. He is abrasive, intelligent, charming, brilliant, Jewish, a pure blast to speak with and more than a little manic at times. But homophobic and Mormon he assuredly is NOT.

You are certainly thinking of Orson Scott Card.

[Creideiki]

101. Yeah. Odd that the guy who wrote one of the seminal novels on accepting differences

"Xenophobia", Card has become very strange.

So I gave him up for Lent one year. Never felt like I needed to pick up that habit again afterward.

[mzteris]

102. hth could one confuse the two?

Besides the afore-mentioned attributes...

Harlan Ellison is a writer.

Orson Scott Card is a hack!

[sarge43]

44. Cite please n/t

[Posteritatis]

58. You're thinking of Card; Ellison's just an asshole. (nt)

[CottonBear]

62. Ellison did write the screenplay for the best ever Star Trek Episode. n/t

[Posteritatis]

68. He's an incredible writer, but still a colossal jerk. (nt)

[CottonBear]

116. Very true. n/t

[Ferret Annica]

85. He is, and he would thank you for the truthful post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

The first time I approached him as a fan he tried eviscerating me verbally. When he got as good as he was getting with the same degree of black humor, we got along.

He always opens any conversations insulting me, which is how he is.

I am amused seeing people mistake Card for Ellison. This video in the like is classic Harlan Ellison.

And I hope Mr, "Oi, Oi, I'm dying already" lives to be over a hundred. He's feeling better since his proclamation he was on his way out, so I'm hopeful.

[kenfrequed]

75. Uhm no.

He isn't anti-gay or Mormon.

[Ferret Annica]

77. I'm every bit as argumentative and ball busting as he is...

....so I like Harlan Ellison a great deal, and I'm in the community you say he hates. Have you ever read "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman?" It is a is a celebration of civil disobedience against repressive authority he wrote in 1965.

He comes from a Jewish family and is quite the iconoclast. I've known him for 14 years and he never mentioned he was Mormon to me, but I sent him an E mail with the URL to your post, so you will at least give him a chuckle if you don't get feedback from him.

He had major heart surgery in 1994 and he's been in better health, but his mind is fine, I assure you. If you have a citation to prove your statement which looks like slander to me, please give it. Thanks.

[Ferret Annica]

79. Perhaps you were channeling Orson Scott Card

who wrote, 'Ender's Game.' He's Mormon, hates gays, and this would not be the first time I saw someone cross their wires about a SciFi author. Nudnik.

[Ferret Annica]

88. Watch this, and tell me he's a fookin' Mormon.

Harlan Ellison on God. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-vDxmIKOI&feature=related

Please, watch it and tell me that and further put your ignorance on display.

[RoccoR5955]

114. Damn, beat me to it! n/t

[RoccoR5955]

113. Ellison a Morman?!?!?! That's the biggest laugh I got all day!

He famously states that he dislikes ALL religion. He may have been brought up a Jew, but that's just a cultural thing for him, not a religious one.

Tell me that you left out the :sarcasm: tag, please!

[Aristus]

119. Now see what you've done, dballance?

Besmirched the name of one of the finest writers, and bravest advocates for the downtrodden, in American today, Harlan Ellison. And all because you forgot the name of Orson Scott Card.

BTW, here's a picture of me with the great Ellison himself. As liberal as I am, I wouldn't lower myself to be seen at a book signing with Orson Scott Card. To say nothing of actually buying one of that right-wing idiot's books.

[sarge43]

122. Thanks for the cite, dballance. Certainly confirmed your post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcsrtsybkgk&feature=fvwrel

[DissedByBush]

96. I've never heard of Ellison praising anyone

So if he did for Takei, that is indeed rare praise from a god of science fiction.

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. I've heard that from several people I know personally who have met him personally.

Does that make me a degree away or two degrees removed from Takei? Anyway, every single one of them was completely enamored of him and one of these individuals very rarely expresses an opinion of people one way or the other.

[CottonBear]

30. I have met him. He is a truly kind, and charming person. He has true class.

I was a very young and geeky Star Trek fan. George was in Chattanooga, TN for a rapid transit speech to CARTA (Chattanooga Area Rapid Transit Authority). He was, in the late 1970s, apparently working on rapid transit issues. Several friends and I went down to the CARTA offices and asked if we could meet him after his speech. He came out to the lobby before the speech and spent several minutes speaking to us and we took pictures! He was very generous with his time and was so very nice! Plus, he has a wonderful speaking voice!

[Ratty]

33. Met him at a convention

Had brought my pet rat and George just loved him. What a sweetheart he was to me.

[CottonBear]

57. So cool! He is such a great person. I aspire to be so kind and charming! n/t

[joeunderdog]

74. When he's on Stern, I can't change the channel.

Instantly likable. The kind of disarming persona who can represent (gay or) any kind of platform sooo effectively.

[kenfrequed]

73. Holy crap!!!

Ellison is practically made of some kind of solidified caustic substance he REALLY doesn't give praise easily.

(though those he criticizes damned well have it coming)

Way to go Mr. Takei!

[ZombieHorde]

7. Super cool. nt

[tammywammy]

8. He's a funny guy. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. LOL That is teh awesome!

[Rob H.]

10. I love George

He knows just how to make homophobes look even more ridiculous than they already are, and he does it in an outspoken, humorous way that gets people to pay attention. :thumbsup:

[habitual]

11. here's a favorite clip "you are a douchebag"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UACK93xF-FE

[CrispyQ]

39. That was wonderful.

Worth the 2 minutes! :thumbsup:

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dionysus]

29. awww, you couldn't help yourself, could you?

:rofl:

[EFerrari]

13. LOL! What a great guy he is.

[progressoid]

15. George just gets cooler all the time.

[BlueIris]

16. HA ha ha ha ha. Hah.

I love it.

[Initech]

18. He's George Takei, damn it!!!

Win! :rofl:

[crickets]

19. Love it! George is a fantastic man. -nt

[WildEyedLiberal]

20. I fucking love George Takei

[Iggo]

21. Sulu is gay, and that's okay! (n/t)

[kestrel91316]

82. I think you mean "Sulu is TEH gay!". Heh heh.

[Keith Bee]

22. Sulu rocks!

I'm glad he made Captain in The Undiscovered Country

[KurtNYC]

23. "Sulu, set a course for Sanity, warp factor 5."

Let's go.

[sarge43]

51. "Arm phasers, Mr Sulu and fire at will." n/t

[CrownPrinceBandar]

24. Right on, George Takei........

My admiration for this guy has really grown in the past few years. Out front and unrelenting. Good on ya, George!

[ck4829]

26. Nice, any way to thwart the teatalitarians and their thought police is good

[Bluenorthwest]

28. I like to remind DUers that the elegant and kind Mr Takei

Has been an active Democrat for many years, a Convention Delegate, and in his capacity as board member of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit District, he cast the tie breaking vote authorizing the creation of the LA subway system, now ridden by thousands of people every day.

[CottonBear]

31. See my post #30. As a landscape architect, I am involved in city planning & public transit issues.

Mr. Takei has an impressive resume in the area of public transit! He is awesome! He has done things that have truly improved the lives of the citizens of LA! I continue to be amazed by him.

[snort]

48. LA bus and George Takei

1979 it were. I was riding west on a city bus down wilshire blvd. at mid-afternoon so there were maybe 6 people on that bus. Damned if Mr. Sulu didn't climb aboard take a look around and then sit down next to me! There were tons of empty benches so when this guy sat down next to me at first I was irked and then after staring at him for about 10 seconds it dawned on me who he was. It was confirmed when I saw him holding a SAG envelope with his name on it. I'm not sure why George sat down next to me but I am glad he did as Mr. Sulu was a character on a tv show that I watched as a kid in the sixties gape jawed. Thanks George!

[AtheistCrusader]

32. That is beyond awesome.

[myrna minx]

40. Love you George.

:loveya:

[cornflake_31]

41. I love this man :)

[LynneSin]

42. I'm pro-Takei

:D

[CottonBear]

59. K&R! n/t

[valerief]

43. Takei makes the word 'fabulous' quite fabulous! Great workaround *and* self-promotion.

Love it.

:rofl:

[TygrBright]

45. This will be great when TN teachers discuss that memorable Astaire/Rogers film "The Takei Divorcee"

...or when they discuss the various literary referencess to "Takei Paree!"

Probably won't have too many opportunities to sing the Flintstones' theme song ending in "We'll have a Takei old time!" though.

This reminds me of the short-lived attempt by AOL to limit pron-type chatrooms by banning the word "breast" from chatroom names. Which led to the "Hooter Cancer Survivors" chat room.

My species is SO weird...

amusedly,
Bright

[a la izquierda]

52. Or Tyson Takei, the Olympic Sprinter...

whose name was changed to Tyson Homosexual (from Tyson Gay, of course) on Christian websites.
http://deadspin.com/#!5020670/apparently-someone-named-tyson-homosexual-is-very-fast

[sarge43]

56. The Takei Caballero n/t

[valerief]

86. Bwah! The Takei Nineties! nt

[Sabriel]

118. "Don we now our Takei apparel..." n/t

[demigoddess]

47. such a cool idea!! I'd be Takei any day!!

hope it catches on completely.

[The Doctor.]

49. OMG; "Takei: 'Teh Gay'"

That's hilarious. How can you not love this man?

[rosesaylavee]

50. Love him!

What a joy-filled turnabout of lateral thinking that is!

[eleny]

53. Love that man!

P.S. Wait till Stephanie Miller sees this!

[Reader Rabbit]

54. Good Lord, I love this man!

Smart *and* funny! Who could ask for more?!?!

[OwnedByFerrets]

55. You Go Mr Takei!!

[Urban Prairie]

60. Oh My!!

Takei it away, Mr Sulu!!

[hifiguy]

61. George has got to be one of the coolest people there is

Funny, honest, a solid actor, and he just seems like such a great guy. Love him!

[JHB]

64. That's so Takei!

In the very best way!

Oh, my!

[slampoet]

65. "I don't think of him in a Takei way...."

Yeah that Is easy to say.



Bless your space butt, sir.

[LetTimmySmoke]

66. This stupid bill will have the exact opposite effect as its supporters intend.

[cullen7282]

69. My second grade son got in trouble at school

for telling his classmates that gay means men that want to marry other men and women that want to marry other women. No sex talk or anything, yet got a note at home saying he couldn't talk about such things. Wrote a note back saying I can't control how other parents feel but I'm not raising my son to be a bigot and I am not going to stop explaining things and telling him how love is never wrong.

[Brickbat]

71. Right on and welcome to DU!

:toast:

[sarge43]

83. Excellent

Welcome to DU

[Corruption Winz]

70. Teacher, why does my uncle have a boyfriend......

Teacher: Because he's a queer..... I mean... I didn't say "gay." Right?

[Exultant Democracy]

72. Aye Aye Captain! What a class act.

[woo me with science]

76. I LOVE him!

:loveya:

[FirstLight]

80. he so rocks...

just SO rocks...i Love seeing him these days, he looks great and is obviously really happy in his own skin. Gay or whatever...He's a positive role model for sure...

[penndragon69]

81. How about,

Takei pride day?

[InvisibleTouch]

84. He is great!

It is indeed okay to be Takei. :)

[Sky Masterson]

87. That is so fucking Takei!

;) <3 him

[vim876]

89. Takei (adj.)

1) homosexual
2) a class act

[BoWanZi]

90. He is one of my favorites. I'm going to be really sad someday when he passes on. Go George!

[Phoenix63]

91. Here's a quote from the guy who wrote the bill:

Ben Byers of the Tennessee Equality Project which is fighting against a bill that has been introduced in the state House and Senate. A supporter of the bill, Matthew Parsons, tells Volunteertv (a CBS affiliate) that he supports the legislation because it restricts sex talk in schools to age-appropriate material, then he adds that homosexuality involves acts that are unhealthy for anyone to engage in outside of marriage.

So correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this man saying gay marriage is ok?


Republicans, in such a hurry to discriminate they inadvertently screw up their own causes. Irony is a wonderful thing.

[NewJeffCT]

92. First off - what a fucking stupid bill

and, bravo to George Takei!

[Romulox]

93. George, you are awesome! nt

[keepCAblue]

94. Love George. Hate TN. Isn't this a violation of the First Amendment? n/t

[DFW]

95. When TN outlaws Star Trek, they're asking for trouble

But who's to say they won't try?

[thanks_imjustlurking]

107. If you outlaw Star Trek, only outlaws will have Star Trek.

(Sorry, Mr. Takei makes me so happy I'm getting silly....)

[AzDar]

97. Never watched even one episode of Star Trek... but, omg...LOVE this!!

:thumbsup:

[Frank Cannon]

111. They'll be streaming on Netflix starting in July. Every single episode of every series.

You should check it out sometime. It's not too bad. :)

[Dont call me Shirley]

98. Really Clint is an enema-bag

[nolabear]

99. SURELY there's a point there somewhere.

[thanks_imjustlurking]

106. Or Shirley you jest. (If anyone can find a point, please notify Harry Nilsson.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point!

[nolabear]

108. Ah! I think I found the point of your post downthread. Mea culpa.

And I agree.

[nolabear]

100. Giving it up for the bold, beautiful Mr. Takei!

:applause:

[thanks_imjustlurking]

103. George I love you please marry me!

Oh, darn, wait, phooey, too late and wrong sex and wrong orientation.

I still love you!

Edited to add that I was looking for a recent funny appearance on a sitcom I can't remember the name of, and came across an old (*old* being the operative word - see below) *Boy Scout* commercial by Mr. Takei!

http://youtu.be/qmnLYVNO5EE

Yeah, I know, but - I found out something I didn't know in the comments. Says there they didn't ban gay Scoutmasters until 1991 and gay Scouts until 2004 - i.e, way after the commercial was made. Makes sense - the fundies didn't used to be *quite* so obsessed with sex.

Ooh, ooh, ooh! Check out what you get if you search YouTube for "George Takei douchebag"! (No! It wasn't my idea - YouTube suggested it, and a good suggestion it was! And *he's* not the douchebag.)

http://youtu.be/UACK93xF-FE

[Bucky]

104. Next Christmas, I'm going to sing "Don we now our Takei apparel"

Fa la la la la la la laaaaa

[thanks_imjustlurking]

105. .

:rofl:

[REP]

109. More than just okay!

Takei is handsome, an accomplished actor and seems like a nice guy - more than just "okay"!

[Liberal_in_LA]

110. lol. Love George.

[JTG of the PRB]

112. I absolutely ADORE George Takei.

He is an amazing, incredible man. :applause:

[Pharaoh]

115. Zulu! Beam me up!!!!!

Scotty! Get me some Scotch! Stat!

:rofl:

[AsahinaKimi]

117. He's fantastic

But this is the best!

[James48]

120. It gets better