Oliver Calls Out Walker, Hillary and More for Refusing to Defend LGBT Rights

For his main story last night before a three-week hiatus, John Oliver tackled to issue of LGBT discrimination. Despite the fact that the idea of a gay wedding actually received applause at the first GOP presidential debate, Oliver reminded viewers that in most states, gay people can still be fired, evicted or refused service based solely on who they love.

After laying out the basic problem at hand, Oliver revealed that he had reached out to every presidential candidate on both sides of the aisle with a simple question this week: “Would you support the passage of a federal law or laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, specifically in the areas of employment housing, public accommodation, and access to credit?”

Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley said “yes,” but, as Oliver put it, “to be honest, I think they were just happy that anyone had asked them anything.” Bernie Sanders also replied affirmatively and Rand Paul’s campaign said, “We’ll pass. Thanks.”

Everyone else, including Hillary Clinton, declined to give any answer at all. “It should not take that long to work out the answer to ‘Should gay people be discriminated against?’ is just ‘No.’ That’s it.”

Watch video below, via HBO:

[Photo via screengrab]

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