Attorney General Sessions made an announcement Monday that he has a new gig: head of his own “Religious Liberty” Task Force. The announcement was made during the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Summit.
Sessions said the group’s purpose will be to ensure that the Justice Department upholds the administration’s guidance for religious exemptions, which he released in October.
That’s a lot of fake power for a tiny little man.
“Though freedom of religion is a core American value, religious exemptions from adhering to non-discrimination protections are not,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD.
“Sessions’ announcement today is yet another example of the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ agenda as they seek to weave protections for those seeking anti-LGBTQ religious exemptions into the government,” Kate Ellis added.
Sessions claimed that the goal of this task force is to accommodate people of faith, but his explanation of its purpose and his extensive anti-LGBTQ record suggest otherwise.
Sessions has a long history of defending the use of “religious exemptions” to discriminate against LGBTQ people and opposing non-discrimination protections for the community.
In his announcement, Sessions called attention to legal battles such as Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in which lawyers from the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom argued that Jack Phillips had the right to discriminate against two men who were seeking a wedding cake based on their sexual orientation.
“We have gotten to the point where courts have held that morality cannot be a basis for law; where ministers are fearful to affirm, as they understand it, holy writ from the pulpit; and where one group can actively target religious groups by labeling them a ‘hate group’ on the basis of their sincerely held religious beliefs,” Sessions shared.
Well, that’s one way to change the civil rights narrative.
“This President and this Department of Justice are determined to protect and even advance this magnificent heritage,” Sessions said.
Monday’s Religious Liberty Summit featured a number of panelists, each boasting a lengthy anti-LGBTQ record.
Among those honored in Sessions’ speech were Kerri Kupec, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Jack Phillips, Senator Lankford, and Emilie Kao.
Probably the best line from his speech was this one:
“Many Americans have felt that their freedom to practice their faith has been under attack,” he said. “And it’s easy to see why. We’ve seen nuns ordered to buy contraceptives.”
Right. Nuns. Ordered to buy contraceptives…
Because that’s our goal, folks. You’ve figured the left out once and for all.
“As our nation grows order, we must not let it depart from this magnificent tradition,” Sessions said.
Enter The Handmaid’s Tale.
Because we have to save the nuns.