Retired Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson appeared on The Colbert Report last night to talk about how religion has become more accepting of LGBT people. Robinson explained, “We’re asking: Did the Church — did the Synagogue — get it wrong about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people? I think the answer is yes.” He helped Stephen Colbert understand that, just like being left-handed, being gay is not a choice. Robinson also pointed out that the fact that most people now know someone who is gay is what has helped LGBT rights advance so quickly — his own journey within the Episcopal Church serving as the perfect example. Watch the interview:
On Wednesday night’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert addressed the new song from Brad Paisley and LL Cool J, “Accidental Racist,” which happens to be, apparently, accidentally racist. Colbert described the song as “uniting all of us… to join our voices as one and declare, ‘This song sucks!’” He was so inspired by it that he wrote his own “awful” song to bridge the gay marriage divide. Joined by openly bisexual actor Alan Cumming, Colbert borrows Paisley’s tactic of playing dumb to avoid responsibility for homophobia. Cumming retorted, “If you don’t judge my parades, I’ll forget what you said about monkeys and AIDS,” a reference to the beliefs of Tennessee Sen. Stacey Campfield (R), sponsor of the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Watch it:
This post has been updated to correct that Alan Cumming identifies as bisexual.
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report returned from hiatus this week, and both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have noted that many significant voices are speaking out for same-sex marriage.
On Wednesday night, Stewart highlighted the many DemocraticSenators who have come out for same-sex marriage over the past week, calling it “a historic shift in public opinion and the most boring gay pride parade float ever.” Stewart then juxtaposed this with Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) comments that he’s not a bigot:
STEWART: Believing that the definition of marriage should be left to the states doesn’t make you a bigot, but believing that those states should define that to be “traditional marriage”… that does actually make you a bigot.
Watch it:
Meanwhile, Colbert was “shaken to the core” by Bill O’Reilly’s admission that he supports same-sex marriage. He highlighted Papa Bear O’Reilly’s past statements comparing same-sex to “plural marriage,” and marriage to turtles, ducks, and goats, demonstrating how a more enlightened understanding of marriage equality erases such silly fears.
The meme that Superman, having arrived as a child from Krypton through the machinations of his parents, is in fact an undocumented immigrant has percolated a bit during this round of the immigration reform debate. But it took novelist Junot Diaz, who appeared on The Colbert Report earlier in the week, to take that idea and turn it into the perfect question for people who treat immigration reform as an abstraction:
What do you do with the isolated child in the fire engine red cape with nowhere else to go? What are in his best interests? Do you proceed under the most optimistic assumptions about what he might be able to bring to his new country? The worst? The point is not that Superman deserves an H-1B visa. It’s that immigrants deserve a chance to make contributions to the country they want to adopt, not simply to be treated as a drag on it.
On Wednesday night’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert dedicated the opening segment to LGBT issues, notably the arguments in favor of continuing marriage inequality that Paul Clement has submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of House Republicans. After first highlighting a new study suggesting straight men experience higher levels of stress and depression than gay men, Colbert dug into Clement’s arguments, including the claim that gays are too powerful a group to deserve the Court’s justice. Applying that logic, Colbert suggested, “If you really want to help the gays, you need to ostracize them at work, mock them at school, make them feel like they have no place in our society, because according to Paul Clement, we can’t give them rights until we wrong them.” Watch it:
Chris Kluwe On Colbert: ‘People Are People’ And Deserve Equal Treatment |
Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe stopped by The Colbert Report Tuesday night to chat with Stephen Colbert about his advocacy for marriage equality. Colbert asked him about his written takedown of Maryland Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. for trying to , and Kluwe explained that he believes “people are people and deserve to be treated the same as everyone else.” In his initial piece, Kluwe pointed out that marriage equality is not going to turn Burns or anybody else into a “lustful cockmonster,” and he now confirms that after the defeat of Minnesota’s marriage inequality amendment, he has seen “zero cockmonsters running around the streets of Minnesota.” Watch it:
NEWS FLASH
Colbert Compares Ex-Gay Therapy To Anti-Left-Handedness |
On Tuesday night’s The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert mocked ex-gay therapy, noting a recent decision by a California judge to suspend a new ban on the treatment for minors for three plaintiffs challenging the law. (A judge in a separate case was not so conciliatory to the harmful therapy’s proponents.) Colbert highlighted the New Jersey lawsuit against Jewish ex-gay group JONAH and the many bizarre strategies the clients had to endure that were supposed to help them change their orientation. At the end of the segment, he notes, “If we outlaw these therapies, we’d have no choice but to sit back and let people be gay, just like we gave up on curing left-handedness.” Watch it:
Last night on his Comedy Central show, Steven Colbert mocked Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) anti-Muslm charges that the U.S government is supposedly being infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood. “I admire” Bachmann’s campaign, Colbert said, adding, “Exhibit A: Did you know that the congressional cafeteria serves crescent rolls? That is nothing more than warm buttery jihad.” Colbert then ridiculed Newt Gingrich for praising McCarthyism to defend his support of Bachmann:
COLBERT: Yes it takes a brave man to randomly accuse someone of something horrible based on no evidence and then demand they refute the evidence that you don’t have. So tonight, I am accusing Newt Gingrich of being a baby eating werewolf.
Colbert also interviewed Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who has led the charge in Congress against Bachmann’s baseless witch-hunt. Ellison confirmed to Colbert that he is Muslim and has siblings. “So you are literally a Muslim brother,” Colbert joked, “You realize I just caught you. I caught you in a lie.” Watch the interview here:
Colbert Comes Out Against The Anti-Chick-fil-A ‘Heterophobic Bigots’ |
Last night, Stephen Colbert reflected on the Chick-fil-A controversy, highlighting the company’s anti-gay giving and the backlash against it. He encouraged other companies to follow its lead and embrace controversial political positions so they can have record-setting days like Chick-fil-A did. Recognizing the onslaught of demonizing “heterophobic bigots,” Colbert then came out as straight, acknowledging that his “roommates” are actually his wife and kids. Watch it:
Stephen Colbert's visualization of Chick-fil-A's Dan Cathy
The backlash against Chick-fil-A for its condemnations and campaigns against the LGBT community — including yearly giving to ex-gay organization Exodus International — continued today. (Check out video of the Human Rights Campaign’s protest in Washington DC yesterday.) As elected officials clarified to what extent they could actually limit the restaurant’s expansion in their cities, a new gender discrimination lawsuit suggests there may be more reasons not to welcome the Christian-run franchises.
Officials Back Off Threats To Block Chick-fil-A
Both Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D) and Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno (D) have clarified that they will not be using their political power to obstruct Chick-fil-A’s expansion into their cities, though they still stand strongly opposed to the anti-gay company. When asked about blocking a new franchise near Boston’s Freedom Trail because of president Dan Cathy’s remarks, Menino told the Boston Herald, “I can’t do that. That would be interference to his rights to go there.” Moreno appeared on CNN this morning to make the same point, clarifying that he’s still on guard that Chick-fil-A’s beliefs may lead to anti-gay discrimination. Watch it:
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee also offered his disapproval for the company’s anti-equality policies, tweeting, “Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.”
Woman Sues Chick-fil-A For Gender Discrimination
Former Chick-fil-A general manager Brenda Honeycutt is suing the company for wrongful termination, alleging she was let go from her job so that she could be a “stay home mother.” According to the suit, her boss, proprietor Jeff Howard, excluded Honeycutt from meetings he held with male general managers, then eventually fired her, telling her and several others it so she could be a stay home mother. He hired another male employee to replace her. Honeycutt was also not the only female employee unfairly treated by Chick-fil-A. Given the controversial Biblical principles already known to dictate the company’s other principles and practices, this suit does not bode well for its reputation. Read more
