John Oliver Says It's Time To End Discrimination Against Gays

"States have a checkered history when it comes to civil rights."

John Oliver says it's time for the federal government to finish the job when it comes to gay rights.

Speaking on HBO's "Last Week Tonight" on Sunday, Oliver pointed out that while gay couples now have the right to get married, they don't have many other rights in much of the nation.

In some cases, they have no rights at all.

Now Oliver is calling on the feds to extend basic civil rights protections to the gay community.

"States have a checkered history when it comes to civil rights," Oliver said. "Just look at Arkansas right now. Not only do they not have any anti-discrimination ordinances, earlier this year they actually passed an anti-anti-discrimination ordinance that prevents any city or county from extending civil rights protections to gay people."

As Oliver pointed out, that's the opposite of progress.

"It would be like if Apple suddenly introduced the iPhone 7 and it was a flip phone," he said. "That's still not as dumb as the Apple Watch... but it's dumb."

Check it out in the clip above.

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