Inequality isn’t funny, but this video of SNL alum Seth Meyers taking on the hate and ignorance HERO opponents spewed is the most hilarious thing you’ll watch today.
It’s been said that Seth Meyers is the person who is carrying on Jon Stewart’s legacy, and that’s true if this video is any indication.
Wednesday night the Late Night with Seth Meyers host took on the bigots and haters, the ignorant and religiously-empowered who for over a year now have attacked Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance.
His commentary is sure to leave you laughing – and thinking.
“The HERO Law had a wide base of support across the country,” Meyers explained. “President Obama said he supported it, and a long list of companies came out in favor of it, too, including Apple, General Electric and even Hewlett-Packard. Although HP didn’t issue a formal statement because they couldn’t get their printer to work.”
“So what did the law do? It prohibited discrimination in workplaces, housing and public accommodations, such as bathrooms, on the basis of 15 different characteristics, including race, age, and sexual orientation. But it was gender identity that opponents had a problem with.”
Meyers goes on to mercilessly mock people like Mike Huckabee, who said back in February that if he had been allowed to in high school, he’d have found his “feminine side” and told his coach, “I think I’d rather shower with the girls today.”
“Mike Huckabee, you a creep,” Myers retorted.”For real. Just to clarify — just to clarify your position, if it had been legal, you would have gone into the locker room to shower with the girls, and you think they would have just stayed. Anyway, if that sounds cool to any of you, he’s running for president.”
Meyers also explained that “opponents of the law claimed falsely that the bill would allow anyone of any gender to walk into any bathroom they wanted. The idea is known as the ‘bathroom myth’ and the anti-HERO ads focused heavily on it.”
So the ads focused exclusively on the bathroom issue even though the law had nothing to do with that. There’s also no evidence that this has ever been a problem in places that do have these laws. But unfortunately the ads worked. As one Houston resident told Buzzfeed, “The only thing that I have heard is that it allows men who dress up like women going into the ladies room. If a person woke up one day and said, ‘I identify as a woman,’ he could just go into the bathroom to see booty.” You know, I’ve never been in a woman’s restroom, but I’m guessing the booties aren’t just out for everyone to look at. And if they are, I’m pretty sure you’re doing something wrong. Also the restroom is the five minutes of the day you don’t want to see the booty. That’s when the booty is busy. More importantly, the idea that you could go into a bathroom and do anything other than use the toilet is already illegal in Houston.
The former Weekend Update anchor also showed viewers part of the ugly animated attack ads HERO opponents ran.
“At the end of the day campaigns like the one in Houston are powerful reminders that for LGBTQ people there is still a lot more work to be done to fight against both discrimination — and terrible cartoons,” Meyers quipped.
Watch:
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Image: Screenshot via Late Night with Seth Meyers/YouTube
Hat tip and transcript: Media Matters
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