The Supreme Court on Friday handed a big win to the entire LGBT community, John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, but he wanted to focus on the "T" part. With Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, the transgender community has visible icons and some greater public recognition. "But for all the strides transgender people have made lately, let's not get too complacent about how far we've come," Oliver said, "because they still face a host of obstacles."
Chief among those is ignorance, as Oliver showcased through a clueless Arizona weatherman and numerous interviewers obsessing about transgender women's genitalia. So Oliver took a minute to explain. "Gender identity is who you are, sexual orientation is who you love," he said. "Some transgender people do undergo hormone replacement therapy or sex-reassignment surgery as part of their transition, some do not — and interestingly, their decision on this matter is, medically speaking, none of your f—ing business."
Oliver walked through some other problems facing the up to 700,000 transgender people in the U.S., then ended on a cautionary note: "Look, this is a civil rights issue, and if you are not willing to support transgender people for their sake, at least do it for your own, because we've been through this before, we know how this thing ends: If you take the anti-civil rights side and deny people access to something they're entitled to, history is not going to be kind to you." As always, there is some mildly NSFW language and imagery — "space bestiality"? — and ample humor to leaven a weighty subject. Peter Weber
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
August 31 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include FEMA's new scheme, Gavin Newsom's antics, and a clue in the Epstein files
-
Disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon's risky missionTalking Point Iran-backed militia has brought 'nothing but war, division and misery', but rooting them out for good is a daunting and dangerous task
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogsThe Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
