Going where no one on the "Star Trek" cast has gone before is actor George Takei.

Playing helmsman Mr. Sulu, he steered the Starship Enterprise through three television seasons and six movies. Now, Takei has come out in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community.

"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."

The 68-year-old actor said he and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for 18 years.

Takei, a Japanese-American who lived in a U.S. internment camp from age 4 to 8, said he grew up feeling ashamed of his ethnicity and sexuality.