Stephen Colbert takes a circuitous victory lap on gay marriage

(Image credit: Colbert Report)

last updated 8 January 2015

On the Colbert Report, faux conservative blowhard Stephen Colbert strongly opposes same-sex marriage. Until Tuesday night's show. As a lead-up to his conversation with David Boies and Theodore Olson, the super-lawyers who teamed up to successfully argue for gay marriage before the Supreme Court, character Colbert changed his stance on the issue to "I'm not saying" — a trick he picked up from Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.).

The actor Stephen Colbert almost certainly supports same-sex marriage, and after character Stephen Colbert harrumphs about how quickly gay marriage "has spread like dysentery through a cruise ship," it probably felt slightly liberating to come out for poll-tested public neutrality on the issue. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.