The comedian noted that while marriage equality is now law across America, “there are still a number of surprising ways to ruin a gay honeymoon”.
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The Equality Act would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations among other areas.
As you’d expect from any programme from HBO, be it Game of Thrones, True Detective, or a late night talk show on sensitive and pertinent topics, the clip below is slightly NSFW. In Oliver’s opinion the only reason someone should be fired after their wedding is if their theme was “stolen office supplies”. Recent episodes have featured Oliver explaining the lack of transgender-specific rights and the problems faced by the community as well a segment on sex education that was LGBT-inclusive.
“States have a checkered history when it comes to civil rights”, Oliver said. “But there are still way too many states that don’t have anti-discrimination acts at all”.
Some people – like the baker in Colorado who recently lost a lawsuit over refusing to make cakes for same-sex weddings – seem to be confused about their constitutional rights, according to John Oliver.
Oliver concluded by saying that he and his staff had reached out the campaigns of every current Presidential candidate and asked them if they would support a law or laws that outlaws discrimination against LGBT people.
Of the four who did, Bernie Sanders, Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley said yes and Rand Paul said, “We’ll pass. Thanks”.
Oliver calls for the federal government to implement a bill extending basic civil rights to the LGBT community across all 50 US States.
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As Oliver pointed out, that’s the opposite of progress. “It would be like if Apple suddenly introduced the iPhone 7 and it was a flip phone”.
