I watched this last night in disbelief. There's no way he could have moved there and not known it was a gay area. A real estate agent or broker would have told him if he had, somehow, never heard of the Castro. And nobody moves without doing some research into the neighborhood. He's a provocateur, deliberately trying to force people to behave in ways he thinks are acceptable. Specifically gay people, because he would never dare move into an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and complain about the streets being crowded with dancing men on Simchas Torah, or how there was too much kosher food in the supermarket. He's on this sick campaign because it's been explicitly encouraged by bigotry from the top, from Congress, from the President.

This guy is like the provocateurs from the anti-abortion movement who go to school to become pharmacists specifically so they can get jobs with megastore chains, then refuse to fill prescriptions for contraception. Then they file a lawsuit claiming discrimination on religious grounds. "My conscience won't let me fill those prescriptions. Despite the fact that I legally have no right to interfere between doctor and patient care, I reserve the right to keep my job while refusing to honor the doctor patient relationship, while interfering in medical treatment of a patient by witholding legal medical treatment ordered by someone who has higher legal authority in my state over medical care than I do, and by passing moral judgment on a customer, which is not part of my job description. You can't fire me! I demand my rights as a religious person."

...at Mary Park Hall at San Francisco State University, where I got my degree. Some homophobic misanthrope had scratched "Kill All Fags" into the plastic sheeting above the doors. Below this were written the words "If we catch you, we may fuck you."

Perhaps someone should scrawl that on this motherfucker's house, just so he shuts his mouth. Remember, the key word is "may."

... duller than dishwater.

So much for the "those gays are so fucking flamboyant" stereotype.

Middle America, rest assured that homosexuals can be as boring as some of you!

I like Ed Helms more than some of other TDS regulars, but for a segment set in San Francisco I thought this was very blah.

I know this is just a silly The Daily Show bit, but this guy isn't complaining about gay men kissing or holding hands on the street. He's complaining about hardcore pornographic images being displayed openly on the sidewalk.

Is this somehow an attack on homosexuals? Is this saying that the public display of pornography is somehow an important part of "gay culture" that all homosexuals should have a right to express?

This guy just doesn't want his kids to see porn when they are walking down the street. If this was a hetero sex shop, no one would be interested in this story. I'm sure there are many gay couples with children who wouldn't want their kids to see such images either.

I got a kick out of the Ed Helms piece on the Castro district when I saw it on TV last night but thought a little further about it after seeing the ugly and intolerant Salon caption introducing the video:"we don't know how "The Daily Show" finds these people, but we're damn glad they do, so we can loathe them with impunity".

Why "loathe"? The complaining father was not objecting to homosexuality - just to a store with hardcore store window displays. True, this man "moved to the nuisance", but if uniform zoning laws are being violated, or ought to be amended, that's worth evaluating. It would, or should, be no different than if he had moved his family to a "straight" community where porn shops with graphic displays had proliferated. As homosexuality becomes more accepted, "gay ghettos" will begin to disappear and as they do, adjustments will have to be made on the part of all parties.

Neither the father or the store owner mentioned homosexuality. Only the Daily Show correspondent did. That's important to recognize. Both men are talking about sex shops and kids. Not gays and kids. Sex shops and kids.

Note, in fact, that the shop owner said "couples with kids complained." It's sad that Salon and the letter writers here are assuming those are all hetero couples. Couldn't this have as much to do with gay couples in the Castro settling down and growing families? That seems a lot more likely.

I don't loathe this man, I resent his pushing his beliefs on a majority-gay neighborhood. The Castro is one of the few neighborhoods in the country where gay people can be themselves. And yes, for some gay people, sex toys are part of being gay, and they don't think those toys should be hidden away behind curtains in stores with discrete window displays. If he doesn't like his kids seeing the store, there's a simple solution that doesn't involve moving: Don't walk by it. Tell your kids not to walk by it. But I don't think he can make that adjustment, and my guess is he would start complaining about same-sex affection disaplayed in public and leather daddies and drag queens if the store veiled its contents. He sounds plausible to some people (evidently), but his eyes and the very improbability of his situation revealed the truth.

For those claiming that the man was merely pro-family and not specifically anti-gay, did you actually watch the interview, particularly the part where he also complained about the Pride parade? Being opposed to a community institution that's synonymous with a celebration of gay identity says it all about this guy.

At least he won't be able to walk along Castro (or Noe or Sanchez, etc.) without being identified as that Tool from the Daily Show.

Hey everybody ITS A COMEDY SHOW!

I spent more than 1.5 hours being interviewed about the neighborhood I love and have lived in for 14 years.

I have never complained to anyone about anything in the store windows on Castro.

It's called EDITING people. Out of 1.5 hours of tape they put together 45 second calculated to get laughs.

Yes, when asked, I said shopkeepers could excercise more discretion in display of sex toys. Yes, when asked I listed the community events centered in my neighborhood - BUT NO, I DON'T have a campaign against display of buttplugs, testical clamps and specula in store windows.

I thought the Daily Show piece was hilarious as did my many gay friends and neighbors who watched with us.

When the Daily Show producer asked if I'd be interviewed for a segment they were working on about the Castro, of course I agreed; I love the show - its the only TV I watch. I knew that I would be made a fool of - they're making COMEDY for chrissakes.

I didn't expect grafitti on my house the next day, nor did I expect the hysterical torrent of rants on Salon from people who can't tell "fake news" when they see it.

And yes H.H. I must be the "stupidest straight man in the Castro", I thought my neighbors had a sense of humor.