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It is this combination of political opinion with comedy that makes The Daily Show not only a striking, but also a deeply refreshing voice for pro-gay attitudes. At a time when the ongoing ‘culture war' over gay marriage, gays in the military and so on has become so exhausted that one can virtually predict what either side will say, the writers of The Daily Show can be relied upon to sidestep well-trodden rhetorical paths in favor of something more oblique and subversive.

It might be done via the deadpan recounting of a fact:

Jon Stewart: Recently, the highest court in South Africa handed down a decision ordering the country's parliament to extend marriage rights to all gay couples. So just to reiterate, America is now less progressive than South Africa.

They may do it by taking the right-wingers on at their own game:

Brian Camenker (Massachusetts ‘pro-family' activist): You know, it's a little scary as to where this movement might be headed.... Gay activists use a lot of the PR tactics and the propaganda tactics that the Nazis used.
Ed Helms (TDS correspondent): That comparison's a bit extreme, don't you think? I mean, what did the Nazis do that was so bad?

Or they may just sit back and let their anti-gay interviewees self-destruct:

Camenker: You know, the gay marriage issue is destructive on many levels. You have to deal with it in business, you have to deal with it in the public square, you have to deal with it in the public schools....
Helms: So the quality of life has decreased [since gay marriage was introduced in Massachusetts a year ago].
Camenker: Yeah.
Helms: Homelessness has gone up?
Camenker: [pause] I can, you know....
Helms: Crime rates?
Camenker: Crime rates?
Helms: Air quality?
Camenker: I mean, let me put it this way.... I could sit here and I could probably, you know, find some way of connecting the dots to gay marriage to all of these... if I had enough time, and I did some research.
TDS Overvoice: Yeah! Why take time to do the research when saying it is so
much faster?

What The Daily Show can generally be relied upon to do, however, is to avoid any hint of preachiness. This irreverent and sometimes politically incorrect take on gay and lesbian issues does not appeal to everyone. Stewart's underlying politics may be impeccable, but there are some who feel that too many of his jokes play off easy gay stereotypes to get a laugh.

A segment on the opening of Harvey Milk High School for gay and lesbian students included the cheer “Go, Fightin' Flamers!” Another segment called ‘Gays of Thunder' claimed to take the sponsoring of a racing car by Garnier Fructis as evidence of a ‘gaying' of the sport.

Since the show satirizes pretty much every group they can get their hands on, it might seem unreasonable to take offence. Yet with frequent criticism from Republicans that the show is a ‘liberal mouthpiece' and that it goes easy on the left, the ‘gay jokes' can occasionally feel like a sop to the homophobes; a counterbalance for the strong pro-gay politics.

Some have also criticized Stewart for going too easy on the conservatives who visit his show. His interview with homophobic Republican senator Rick Santorum serves as an example. Here the problem seemed less to me that Stewart did not make his own point of view clear (telling Santorum that “My experience is [that] virtue is unrelated to sexuality”) than that he was surprisingly clumsy and hesitant when it came to driving home his case.

There is no doubt Stewart can be deft, articulate and effective in a debate. A perfect example is found in his now famous Crossfire confrontation with Tucker Carlson. It would have been gratifying to see Stewart really take on Santorum in detail on the issues surrounding gay marriage. As it was, he seemed too ready to let the conversation come to rest on ‘We'll have to agree to disagree."

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