Daily Show Correspondent Misses the Mark
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has a strong track record of reporting fairly and accurately on LGBT issues. In fact, the Comedy Central series was honored with a special recognition at the 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2005.However, the show took a rare misstep on Tuesday when covering marriage equality in California. UK-born field reporter John Oliver (pictured) proudly told the host that he was joining in on the celebrations in California by obtaining a marriage license. Though Oliver is not gay, he was happy to marry a man to obtain his green card and stay in the U.S. The joke was that he chose to marry fellow Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, who is Canadian and also looking for a green card.
The unfortunate part of this piece is that this situation is entirely inaccurate. Gay blog Citizen Crane writes:
Well, actually fellas, the joke's on us -- us being the thousands of gay Americans in relationships with foreign citizens. Not only are jokes on national television about fake gay marriages to get green cards decidedly unhelpful to our cause, they're also a gross distortion of reality. As we know all too well, marriage licenses issued to gay Americans and their spouses in California, Massachusetts, Canada or anywhere else have absolutely no effect on our spouses' immigration rights because they are completely unrecognized by the U.S. federal government. (In fact, they could get a partner on a temporary visa deported because it's evidence they intend to live here long term.)
Be sure to read the entire argument over at Citizen Crane, learn the real deal about Immigration Equality and check out the segment below.
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