In the wake of last week’s decision by the California Supreme Court striking down a law banning same-sex marriages, Yahoo and E! News are reporting that actor George Takei and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, are engaged to be married. In an announcement on his web site, Takei writes “Brad and I have shared our lives together for over 21 years. We’ve worked in partnership; he manages the business side of my career and I do the performing.… He is my love and I can’t imagine life without him. Now, we can have the dignity, as well as all the responsibilities, of marriage. We embrace it all heartily.”
Altman proposed Thursday, hours after the decision was announced. “I was planning on asking Brad,” Takei said, “but he got down on one knee, and, of course, I said yes. I told Brad, ‘You beat me to it.'”
The couple haven’t set a date, but are planning to wed between mid-June (when same-sex marriages will become lawful) and November (when there may be an initiative on the ballot banning them again). Takei and Altman are now planning a wedding. “We are now going through the process of making those wonderful decisions,” Takei said. Though they haven’t announced any of those details, Takei—who will forever be known for his role as Sulu—did hint at part of the guest list: “My Star Trek castmates are dear friends of many, many decades, so they are on the list.”
Takei’s statement is on his blog. Yahoo’s article is here.