Gay wedding for Star Trek's Takei

Takei appeared in the popular TV series Heroes last year

US actor George Takei is to wed his long-term partner after California lifted its ban on same-sex marriage.

Takei, 71, best known for playing Mr Sulu in Star Trek, said he and Brad Altman were going through the "delicious dilemma" of where to marry.

The actor and 54-year-old Mr Altman have been together for 21 years.

"We can have the dignity, as well as all the responsibilities, of marriage. We embrace it all heartily," Takei wrote on his website.

'Good times'

Takei, who recently appeared in the popular US TV series Heroes, added: "We've worked in partnership; he manages the business side of my career and I do the performing.

"We've travelled the world together from Europe to Asia to Australia. We've shared the good times as well as struggled through the bad.

"He helped me care for my ailing mother who lived with us for the last years of her life. He is my love and I can't imagine life without him."

On Thursday, California's Supreme Court said the "right to form a family relationship" applied to all Californians regardless of sexuality.

But opponents of the decision said they would seek an amendment to the state constitution, which would override the ruling.

Following the Supreme Court's decision to legalise same-sex marriage, comedian Ellen DeGeneres announced plans to marry her girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi.