Comedians rip into bigots at Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell hearings

In last week’s State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama renewed his promise to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — the US policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military.

Canada repealed its ban back in 1992. A study in 2000 found that Canada’s decision had no effect on “military performance, unit cohesion or discipline.” But US anti-gay bigots continue to argue that a repeal of the ban would have negative consequences. Riiight.

Committee hearings this week brought out some of the craziest anti-gay US politicians. A highlight of the absurdity:

Skip ahead to the 4:40 mark: “[With] the military fighting two wars and now responding to a new mission in Haiti, now is not the time to make such a big change to military policy,” says Republican senator Jeff Sessions.

Comedian Jon Stewart slammed Sessions with a mocking impersonation: “I think the time to do this would be when everlasting peace comes over the land!” Later, Stewart took on John McCain for supporting DADT and then jokingly calls for a ban on old people serving in the US senate. Hilarious!

Stephen Colbert also ripped into the hearings — watch the clip on the Comedy Network (sorry, we can’t embed!).

And if you haven’t seen it already, check out this satirical news report from the Onion: “Gays Too Precious To Risk In Combat, Says General.”

Read more:

• Peter MacKay retreats on gay veterans issue
• How the Second World War changed gay life