George Takei has accomplished what few people even dream. A successful, life-long career as an actor on TV and in films. In his early life, he survived life in a U.S. internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. In his later life he came out as gay and became an LGBT activist.
He is literally beloved by millions, as evidenced by his highly-popular Facebook page, which has more than 4.5 million fans.
Take a quick walk through Takei’s Facebook page and you’ll see each post has an average of 50,000 to 75,000 “likes.” Some, more than 100,000. And those are in just the past few days.
For example, this delightful and amusing post from just two days ago, has over 172,000 “likes.”
But one Facebook post the former “Mr. Sulu” of the original “Star Trek” fame made, right now has a mere 354 “likes.” It’s his video endorsement of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. She’s running for mayor of New York City, and up until a month or two ago — certainly before Anthony Weiner threw his hat, and some other ugly accessories into the ring — Chris Quinn was a shoe-in for mayor.
But Weiner caused many New Yorkers to re-examine their choices, and today, Bill de Blasio, New York City’s Public Advocate, has 43 percent of the vote. Christine Quinn, just 18 percent.
She’s not even second, she’s actually in third place. And with the NYC primary just days away, it’s not looking good for the woman who got her start as an advocate at the New York City Anti-Violence Project, working to protect NYC’s LGBT citizens from hate violence.
Take a look at some comments on Takei’s Facebook page endorsement of Christine Quinn:
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International Business Times noted that some on Facebook “criticized Takei, a resident of Los Angeles, for getting involved in New York City politics.”
Takei countered that he has an apartment near Carnegie Hall, a response that didn’t go over too well with those who would view a Quinn win as a tool of wealthy interests and an extension of the Bloomberg administration.
“Hahahaha you have an apartment near Carnegie Hall? Well ain’t that wonderful,†one user commented. “I guess you think having a place where you stay a couple weeks a year qualifies you offer opinions about our city, where some of us have lived our whole lives. Guess what? You are the problem. You super-rich and your apartments that you keep here just so you can come and shop a couple times a year, squeezing out the people who are born and bred of this city.â€
Our own report of Takei’s Quinn endorsement garnered a mere 103 Facebook likes — about a quarter of our average. Granted, it’s local politics, but it’s also George Takei.
LGBT people have been fighting for equality for what seems like forever. An LGBT person as the mayor of New York City sounds wonderful. Some LGBT people are in favor of Quinn, but more and more it seems like LGBT people are saying there are more important reasons to vote for someone than their orientation.
And isn’t that what real equality is all about?