To boldly go where few gay men have gone before

Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, George Takei, married his longtime partner over the weekend, with best lady Lt. (or whatever her rank is now) Uhura, Nichelle Nichols, and Pavel Chekov, aka Walter Koenig. Yep, another Star Trek wedding. Nothing unusual about that except for one thing -- Sulu's partner is also a man. Another gay marriage and, aside from the Mets bullpen blowing another lead, nothing disastrous happened. The world did not stop spinning. The sun didn't explode. That weird snow cone shaped planet eater from some second season episode of Star Trek did not come to Earth and go all "nom nom nom nom" on us. All was well, unless you worked for Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch, but that's another story.

However, there are those to whom this weekend's events spell the end of civilization as we know it (ignoring that civilization as we know it always seems to be evolving anyway), so they can force their views onto others. Hogwash. Why is it anyone's business what two consenting human adults who love each other do? If they want to get married, let them get married. Let them suffer all the joys and sorrows like the rest of us. No need for all the hate. If you don't want gay married couples in your life, you are perfectly free to exclude them from your day to day activities. Just as it is easy to find religious organizations that welcome diversity, it is even easier to find those that are much more traditional. No one is forcing you to play well with others who are different.

Still, even the hating is progress, to an extent. 40 - 50 years ago, the photo below, from Mr. Takei's wedding, of a "negro" woman, a "jap" and two other "white" men would have been blasted for the mixing of races in many parts of the country. And forget about the idea of an aisan and white marrying. Today, not a peep about their different backgrounds, aside from the homosexuality. It just doesn't seem to matter to most people these days. It is no one's business but the happy couple's. Perhaps one day we'll think nothing more than fun party where all had a good time when we hear the term "gay wedding."

Mr. Sulu. Set a course for marriage. Warp factor fabulous

With California's gay marriage ban over, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, George Takei, and his longtime partner Brad Altman, are planning on getting married this fall. Mazel Tov and congratulations.

As a Star Trek fan, I've been a fan of Mr. Takei for quite a few years. More recently, I've been listening to him as a semi-regular on Howard Stern's Sirius radio show, where, as tends to happens on Stern's show, he has been quite descriptive about his relationship with his partner. Although he only publicly came out of the closet a few years ago, he had been quietly out and I had heard he was gay some years ago (when I first read the online article where he came out I thought to myself "I didn't realize he was out;" a few days later the news hit the mainstream media).

I'm sure many of us saw California's first marriage on the news the other night between elderly lesbian partners who finally wed after being together for 50 years. Cities didn't fall. The earth didn't open. The planets didn't spin away. Instead we saw a nice elderly couple, who liked like my mother's elderly female relatives, expressing their love to each other in what looked to be a very nice celebration of their union. Go figure.

Of course there were the protesters standing around the building complaining sodomy is sin, in which case I know many people who have sinned according to the protesters, and the elderly couple will be spending eternity in hell, ignoring whether the gay marriage partners actually believe in those particular religious views (as if that should matter in a secular government). Then there are those who say our country was founded on certain beliefs of the eighteenth century and those foundations should be followed. Well, the morals and ethics of our forefathers included owning slaves and killing native Americans, things I strongly doubt they would advocate today. Times change and so do thoughts. We're not static beings.

I always wonder about the hate these people must have in their hearts for them to take time out of their day to protest people who love each other from getting married. I think there a lot more important things wrong with this country, such as the way we treat our war wounded soldiers, or some activists shaking down corporations, that they could be protesting against. I for one, despise the hypocrits who say they are looking to protect my soul while they seek to harm those who are actually living on this earth.