This image was lost some time after publication.

We hardly think it would be an overstatement to suggest that California is currently gripped with a severe case of Gay Marriage Fever, a rare condition whose only cure is bearing witness to thousands of fabulously over-the-top, same-sex nuptials. On the heels of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia DeRossi's joyful announcement that they'd finally make official their loving halfway home to hundreds of our city's homeless mongrels, comes this AP report via ABCNews.com—the same news outlet who sensitively proclaimed, "Stars' Gay Marriage Possible Career Suicide" shortly following the ruling—detailing the whirlwind romance of newly engaged Hikaru "George Takei" Sulu and his totally hunkycakes fiancé, Brad Altman:

They were working out in a running club and he couldn't take his eyes off Altman, who had a "lean, tightly muscled" body, the 71-year-old actor told AP Radio in an interview.

Takei said he asked Altman to help him train for a marathon, they fell in love, and now they've been living together for 21 years.

Altman said he proposed by getting down on one knee in their kitchen while Takei was eating a sandwich after seeing on TV that the California Supreme Court had legalized same-sex marriage. It surprised Takei, who thought he would be the one who popped the question.

They bought each other turquoise and silver wedding rings.

Takei and Altman plan to marry Sept. 14 in the Democracy Forum at the Japanese National Museum in Los Angeles.

Walter Koenig, who played Chekov in "Star Trek," will be the best man and Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, will be the matron of honor. Castmate Leonard Nimoy will be among the 200 guests, but probably not William Shatner. Takei has said Shatner didn't treat him and most of the cast very well.

As happy as this news is, it saddens us that Shatner can't drum up for his co-star's wedding the same kinds of enthusiasm he musters for his heterosexual pursuits, and boldly join Takei on his journey to where no man-loving-man (who doesn't hail from Massachusetts and certain Benolux countries) has gone before.