This weekend, it looks like local Trekkies, as well as civil rights advocates, have something to beam about: a visit from the one and only George Takei. Thought we’d pass this item along from the JACL pressroom.

On February 20, the Portland chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) will present “Fighting for Civil Rights: The Japanese American and LGBT Experience” with special guest George Takei. This program will be held on the Portland State University campus in Hoffman Hall between 1-3pm. Following Mr. Takei’s address there will be a panel discussion with Marty Davis, editor of Just Out and Jessica Lee from Basic Rights Oregon.

Every year, Portland JACL takes time out to remember the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and to bring light to contemporary issues affecting human civil liberties. This event has been funded in part by Neighbors West Northwest, which promotes direct participation in grassroots democracy by supporting community efforts at the neighborhood level.

Best known for his role as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek, actor George Takei’s acting career spans more than five decades. He and his family spent five years during World War II incarcerated in American concentration camps in Rohwer, Arkansas, and Tule Lake, California. Mr. Takei is chairman emeritus of the Japanese American National Museum; chairman of the council of governors of East West Players, the nation’s foremost Asian Pacific American theater; and a member of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender political organization.