Attorney General Jeff Sessions Gives Closed-Door Speech To Anti-Gay Group

UPDATE: Monday, July 17, 2017 at 12:00 p.m.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' closed-door speech became available on the conservative website The Federalist on Thursday, and the Department of Justice confirmed to International Business Times that this web version is legitimate. The speech touched on defending religious liberty.

“Under this administration, religious Americans will be treated neither as an afterthought nor as a problem to be managed. The federal government will actively find ways to accommodate people of all faiths. The protections enshrined in the Constitution and our laws protect all Americans, including when we work together, speak in the public square, and when we interact with our government. We don’t waive our constitutional rights when we participate fully in public life and civic society,” said Sessions.

Original Story:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech Tuesday night to a Christian religious freedom group with anti-gay right stances. The remarks Sessions made, however, are unknown. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will not release what he said and the address was closed to the public.

The DOJ did not respond to International Business Times’ request for the contents of the speech nor comment about the event.

The speech was given to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) during an event they held called the “Summit on Religious Liberty.” The meeting took place at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, in Dana Point, California according to ABC News Wednesday.

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The non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks extremist groups in the U.S., has designated the ADF a hate group because of their stances towards LGBTQ people.

“We’re concerned that Attorney General Jeff Sessions would make a speech behind closed doors to a group that supports criminalizing homosexuality and marginalizing LGBT people around the world,” said David Dinielli, SPLC deputy legal director in a statement. “He should immediately make his remarks to the group public and be prepared to defend them. The LGBT community — as well as all Americans — needs to know if he is capable of upholding our country’s fundamental promise of equal protection under the law.”

“ADF is the most extreme anti-gay legal organization -- so extreme that it does not concede even that gay or transgender people should be permitted to exist as such,” said Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights to CNN Thursday. “They are a truly destructive force in our country, and it is appalling that the attorney general of the United States would lend them the imprimatur of his office.”

The ADF is representing a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The baker claimed making the cake would violate his religious liberty under the Constitution and the high-profile case has risen to the Supreme Court.

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The summit promised to “bring together prominent legal advocates, scholars, cultural commentators, business executives, and church leaders to examine the current state of religious freedom. And together, we will develop legal and cultural strategies to allow freedom to flourish in the United States and around the world.”

ADF, also did not respond to IBTimes request for comment.