Jon Stewart on Tuesday took on the media's latest bizarre question for Republican presidential candidates who oppose same-sex marriages: "Would you go to a gay wedding?"
The Daily Show host mocked how frivolous the question is for a 2016 presidential candidate like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) or Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who've been vocal about their opposition to same-sex marriage.
"If you can't handle these questions, how are you going to handle [Russian President Vladimir] Putin asking you to go to a gay wedding?" Stewart joked. "This election is going to boil down to, 'Who do you trust to pick up the phone at 3 am and RSVP to a gay wedding?'"
But Stewart also pointed out that questions like this show how far LGBT rights have come. The question assumes same-sex marriages are so widespread in the nation that the next president might have to consider attending a loved one's gay wedding. Contrast that with the previous presidential election cycle in 2011 and 2012, when reporters generally stuck to questions about whether same-sex marriages should be a right at all. The difference in questions is indicative of a political environment in which same-sex marriage is a more established right that's legal not in five states, as was true in 2011, but in 37 states, as is true four years later.
"That is how far gay marriage has come in this country," Stewart said. "Republicans can no longer dismiss gay marriage out of hand. They must engage the question."
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