Warning: SPOILERS. If you've yet to see "Star Trek: Beyond," this may have minor spoilers for you.

U.S.S. Enterprise Helmsman Hikaru Sulu has always been a groundbreaking character. In an America that relegates the Asian to the back in subservient roles, and almost never creates an Asian character of depth, let alone a star, the very fact that an Asian character could exist on screen has always been amazing. Sure, it'd be great to have a Star Trek spin-off with an Asian Captain, but Sulu will always be a phenomenal character in his own right.

Let me explain. In media, Asian characters have some of the lowest representation of any minority, and what little representation they get is extremely flawed. The concept of an "Asian American" doesn't seem to exist in a majority of our popular films and television shows, as most Asians portrayed are international foreigners, played either by people who aren't the same kind of Asian as their character, or are extremely subservient characters to their white counterparts. If they are stars, they're just stars in some glamorous, cliche martial arts movie with a typical cliche plot. Not only are they never integrated well into American society, but those who are international people are treated extremely poorly.

Take that Netflix exclusive, "Sense 8,"for instance. Their Asian character, Sun, is a South Korean woman whose first scene in the show is her practicing Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art discipline, next to an enormous wall. As if the Great Wall of China symbolizes all Asians. She later utilizes techniques from a few different Kung Fu disciplines, none of which would be possible to learn growing up in Korea due to the rarity of instructors for some of these disciplines, even in their home country of China. In her second scene ever, she performs a custom Japanese bow when greeting her boss, and says "Nihao," a Chinese greeting. Recall that she is a Korean woman. Working in Korea. Under a Korean man. Yet there are blends of Asian characters like her everywhere, poisoning our screens with a stereotype image of what an "Asian" is supposed to be — a character of lesser importance than a white protagonist, a martial artist, a petite woman. Forget the obvious sexual harassment she faces in that scene, which could have been a central part of her story and given her some character depth. No, it was just forgotten about, legitimized as a part of her life that somehow has no effect on her character.

You see how much I can vent about this, which brings me back to the importance of Mr. Sulu. Played by George Takei in the original Star Trek, it was groundbreaking to have an Asian as one of the primary characters, and even moreso to have him in a role such as the Helmsman. True, he never reached the same level of importance as Spock or Kirk, but having the Asian guy being so vital a guy as the one who directs the entire ship? That's a rarity in itself. Better yet, they never bother to really touch on his "Asian heritage," or anything like that. He's just another crew member. He is a respected, assimilated part of society and his cast, and doesn't stand out just because he is Asian.

Fast forward, and we're at the modern Star Trek series, where our younger cast now has John Cho portraying Mr. Sulu. I am going to argue that this is every bit as important as George Takei's character. First, I want to describe how awesome it is that Sulu is more or less Kirk's go-to for "Acting Captain," a role which puts Sulu in control as Captain of the ship if Kirk is in danger of dying while in the field. This has been shown on a couple of different times, once in "Star Trek: Into Darkness," and again in "Star Trek: Beyond." Giving such an important role to an Asian American? Integrating an Asian American as an Asian American and not some foreigner? Already amazing. For me, who grew up with very few Asian characters on screen to act as my role models, Sulu is a hero.

So, what could make him even more amazing and drive me to write this article? As of "Star Trek: Beyond," Sulu is gay. That, in itself, is groundbreaking. Sure, it shows Hollywood isn't quite ready to deliver on gay protagonists (they're not ready to deliver on Asian protagonists either), but then again, Kirk has already been shown with a multitude of women and Spock has had a love interest since the first new film, so it's a little bit late to make one of those guys groundbreaking. I don't think I need to go into detail to explain how gay characters have also faced the same problem as Asian characters. They are consistently represented on screen as very minor roles, and almost all inherently fall into the "sassy, flamboyant, slight lisp" stereotype. Gay characters, historically in media, are extremely poorly treated. I can't even begin to imagine how cruel it must have been to grow up gay for some people. For society to make homosexuality seem aberrant would have led these people to being very confused, even ashamed of their feelings and who they love. Furthermore, with no appropriate role models or heroes on screen that were like them, they would have felt all the more isolated. That last part, I empathize with as someone of Asian heritage, who grew up seeing things like Tom Cruise starring in samurai movies.

So, Sulu is gay. That's huge, and the way it was handled was absolutely brilliant. He's the guy who pilots the ship, he's already an incredibly miraculous character, and he doesn't fit at all into the gay stereotype. He's just gay. That's it. No one comments about it, thinks twice, nothing. The only reason we know he's gay is in a scene where the Enterprise lands on a huge floating city in space, where he greets his daughter and his partner, and we see that his partner is male.

And that's it. It's not a big deal. It's such an afterthought that it blends completely into the backdrop of the story. That's how it should be. Nothing significant about it. Sulu is gay, and that is not a big deal. The way it is handled is it is normalized, integrated into the world and into society like anything else. What we need is for gay characters not to be a statement, but a backdrop. The fact that they are gay should play virtually no role in who they are in a film about science fiction and space. It's not a character trait, but who they love. That's it. This is the sort of well-written exposure that tells a story of what the ordinary family can look like. And gay couples can be that ordinary family too, and we don't have to gawk at it as unnatural. You can see from this why I think Sulu being gay is one of the best things to happen to the Star Trek universe, and why I adore how Star Trek is handled. Both the original and the modern Star Trek are some of the best scifi ever to hit television.

Oh, and get this. Sulu's partner? Also an Asian guy, and even though we barely see him, the guy is incredibly muscular, built almost like a linebacker. Why is that important? Asians on screen are frequently seen as skinnier, less muscular and less fit than their white counterparts. The idea that there could be a masculine, very fit Asian? On screen, that seems almost ludicrous. Yet, here we are with Sulu's partner, an Asian who's extremely fit, and who helps normalize the progressive and proper view of what a family can be.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with Mr. Sulu right now.