Colbert Eviscerates Gay Marriage Opponents (VIDEO)

Stephen Colbert returned to air last night after a week off with a particularly funny and diverse episode, tackling everything from George Will's sartorial hypocrisy to gay rights. The latter segment focused on recent legislation passed in the state of Washington called "Everything But Marriage" which expanded the state's domestic partnership law to offer same-sex couples the same rights as straight married people.

This legislation was met with deep dismay by Protect Marriage Washington, an anti-gay marriage group which collected signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to overturn the law, but refuses to produce the list of those who signed the petition to prove its validity to detractors. Enter Stephen Colbert. The host used rhetoric usually reserved to discuss the rights of homosexuals to turn the whole debate on its head and expose the inherent hilarity:

"I don't believe it is a choice, I believe you're born thinking gays don't have the right to get married or even be joined in union. And folks, the gays have no right to out those people."

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Comments

[Artemis34]

Not only do they want to violate Washington's public records act by keeping petition signers' names secret, but they also want to violate Washington's campaign laws by keep the names of their donors secret!

http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=38508

[oceanofconsciousness]

Brilliant satire. I love how he points out the bigotry and fear-mongering in such a clever way.

[AxelDC]

If you don't like same-sex marriage, don't marry someone of the same-sex.

[Artemis34]

Thank you. Worry about your own life and leave everyone else alone!

[FunPie]

More gay marriage satire worth reading:

http://thefunpie.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/celebrate-diversity-thats-so-gay/

[LiberalJo]

Yes, people who are intolerant of others should stay in the closet.

[deeppeace]

I live in WA. You wouldn't believe (well, maybe you would) some of the whacked-out observations posted recently online at the Daily Fishwrap (as it's commonly known). Pure fear and ignorance driving the whole effort. I can't wait to get out of here.

[Artemis34]

To be fair, a lot of the fear mongering and the money to support it comes from out of state (rhymes with ShUtah).

I'm sure those some people are posting idiacy.

Wait for them to get out of Washington. They are just visitors anyway.

[Artemis34]

Some "Daily Fishwrap" articles with dumb comments:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2010034808_guest11strong.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2010019623_guest08ford.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2010120841_newref71suit23m.html

[Artemis34]

Actually from Washington:

"Starbucks endorses Referendum 71

Posted by Melissa Allison

Starbucks added its name to the list of major Northwest employers who support referendum 71, which would uphold Washington law that extends marriage-like benefits to gay, lesbian and some senior couples.

Last month, Boeing, Nike, Microsoft, Puget Sound Energy, RealNetworks and Vulcan issued a joint statement in favor of the measure.

Last Tuesday, Starbucks said it endorses and supports the approval of Referendum 71 because "it is aligned with our business practices, providing domestic partner benefits, and one of our core values of treating people with respect and dignity.""

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/coffeecity/2010140831_starbucks_endorses_referendum.html

[Karin Grace Agha]

Can't we just leave them all alone!

[morganhoyle]

Stephen Colbert, 2012~ republican candidate??

[JohnBisceglia]

Stephen Colbert sees it for what it is - Heterosexual Dictatorship.

[schildpad]

Someone please tell me that no group of whackaloons made an ad about gay marriage in "Scandinavia". Usually my satire detector works pretty well but that really wouldn't be any more idiotic than many of their other ads - so I'm really not sure. If it is true, that really says allot about both our public education system and the bigots themselves.

[Artemis34]

Not satire.

[Artemis34]

The law in Washington calls for the petitions and thereby names of the signers for form part of the PUBLIC record.

So Republican activisits FEDERAL judge Kennedy is NOT upholding the law and NOT supporting states rights.

I see their "respect" for state rights and the rule of law only applies when they happen to actually agree.

[davesf]

Beware activist conservative judges!

[arlandbaee]

How can you verify the signatures if you don't make them public? I can't figure out how to do this if you keep them a secret. What happens if someone's name is used against their will? How do you verify 90,000 signatures without the help of the public? It's impossible.

[Artemis34]

The signatures are fake.

That is why they don't want them released. They don't want people to see their names were used without their consent / signatures were forged.

This is why it is the LAW in Washington that the petitions w/ the signers names must form part of the PUBLIC record.

Donate to Approve Referendum 71 to uphold Washington's domestic partnership law at:

http://approvereferendum71.org/

[Bademus]

Hilarious! And a great reminder to all the WA residents out there to vote yes on Ref 71 to approve the rights that the legislature passed for same-sex and senior domestic partners.

[jalowe1957]

Funny how the love that dare not speak its name could trigger the fear and loathing that dared speak its name.

[Artemis34]

"dare not speak its name"

Because the opponents of domestic partnership want

1) to keep the names of the petitions signers secret in violation of Washington's public records act

and

2) to kee the names fo the donors secret in violation of Washington's campaign laws.

They want to overturn the domestic partnership law that was properly enacted by the legislature and signed by the governor and do so secretly. And use activists conservative judges to help them violate Washington state laws in order to maintain that secrecy.

If they are successful with this, they will steal everyones' rights and under the cover or secrecy!

This law pertains to heterosexual seniors who are domestic partners also, so throw granny under the bus if that is what it takes to hurt gays and lesbians!

[mykebee]

Steven at his best...