Watch: John Oliver’s Amazing Guide to the Fight for Transgender Rights on ‘Last Week Tonight’
Despite the recent advancements in LGBTQ rights, especially the passage of same-sex marriage throughout the United States, the LGBTQ community still faces some challenges. While acknowledging the immensity of the legalization of same-sex marriage in last night’s episode of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” he points out that for transgender people in the United States, there are still tons of challenges and discrimination that they face daily.
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Above, Oliver makes it clear just how ignorant some journalists are when it comes to discussing transgender people, while also digging into the confusion with using proper pronouns and names and the discrimination faced by transgender people at the DMV, in the military and even in bathrooms. The clip above also features the story of two transgender women who went to the DMV in West Virginia were asked to remove all of their jewelry, makeup and wigs before taking an ID picture, among other unbelievable stories of discrimination.
Oliver even goes a step further to discuss the definition of transgender, and reiterate the differences between gender identity and sexual orientation. Basically, in this episode, he spells out the basics of what transgender people face every day, and encourages proper treatment for the transgender community by the media, and the world.
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” airs Sundays at 11pm on HBO.
