Bill Maher: Transgender Equality Must Wait Until After 'Armageddon Election’
Bill Maher used this Friday’s “New Rules” segment to ask that socially aware voters keep quiet until after the 2016 election.
VIDEOSSeth Meyers to Clinton: Ignore Trump, Prep ‘Jim Halpert Look’ for Debates
The Real Time host argued that above all else, defeating Donald Trump should be the No. 1 priority of anyone who wants to see their “boutique issues” — including equal rights for the transgender community — eventually addressed by the U.S. government following this “Armageddon election.”
“From now until Election Day, everything else — every issue, every fight, every cause — has to take a backseat to defeating Trump,” he contended. “We all have our issues that are important to us, and so just to lead by example, let me say I will take my own close-to-the-heart pet cause — pot legalization — off the table. And you know me: I have seeds in my urine!”
RELATEDTransparent Renewed for Season 4
Maher later defended his request to set the fight for transgender equality aside until after Election Day, theorizing that Hollywood is already doing plenty for the cause with its attempts to “normalize” transgenderism in the same way that gay and lesbian people came to be accepted as their portrayal in media became commonplace.
“[T]he people who lead on social issues aren’t in Washington anyway — they’re here in Hollywood,” he stated. “This transgender thing? Let us handle it like we did with gay rights, which very few cared about until Hollywood put gay people in every single TV show. … We hit them with Glee and Ellen and Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and pretty soon being gay was just part of our Modern Family.”
Do you agree with Maher’s suggestion? Press PLAY on the video above to hear his full monologue, then weigh in below.
Related stories
The Night Of Recap: With Great Power Comes Grape Responsibility
Matthew Rhys Joins Girls' Final Season, Calls Role 'A Total Departure'
TVLine Items: Bryan Greenberg Joins Mindy, B99's New Captain and More
Get more from TVLine: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
