During a Monday speech about religious liberty and the weekend shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interrupted by three hecklers angry about Trump Administration policies having nothing to do with the important topic at hand.
The speech occurred at a Federalist Society event in Boston, with one of the vocal agitators being a transgender activist.
First, a young minister boiling about immigration issues interrupted the attorney general from Alabama mid-sentence, saying, “Brother Jeff, as a fellow United Methodist I call upon you to repent, to care for those in need, to remember that when you do not care for others, you are wounding the body of Christ.”
Religious leaders interrupt Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ speech: “Brother Jeff, as a fellow United Methodist I call upon you to repent, to care for those in need.”
Sessions: “Well, thank you for those remarks and attack but I would just tell you we do our best everyday” pic.twitter.com/NUq5HSZZMg
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 29, 2018
Immediately following the first heckler and Sessions’ respectful response, a pastor of a “justice” focused church in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, chimed in. He was shouted down and booed by the crowd, making his words much harder to ascertain before he was hauled away by law enforcement officers.
Sessions was again professional and above-the-fray, remarking, “Alright, we thank you for sharing your thoughts.”
Addressing the two men’s displeasure over the United States enforcing its immigration laws and securing its border, Sessions added, “I don’t believe there’s anything in my theology that says a secular nation-state cannot have lawful laws to control immigration in its country. That’s what we’re talking about. It’s not immoral, not indecent and not unkind to state what your laws are and then set about to enforce them, in my view. I feel like that’s my responsibility.”
Later, according to the liberal Huffington Post, a final protester who was holding a transgender pride flag while yelling, “We will not be erased!” was also forcibly removed.
This comes after The New York Times reported recently that the Trump administration is considering defining gender strictly using biology, making gender essentially mean the same thing as sex in legal terms. Gender would be “determined by genitalia at birth,” according to the report.
After the hecklers were removed, Sessions addressed the horrific shooting in Pittsburgh.
“This was not just an attack on the Jewish faith,” he emphasized. “It was an attack on all people of faith, an attack on America’s values. It cannot and will not be tolerated.”
According to Politico, Sessions also criticized what he called a “total cultural war” on people of faith and lamented that “respect for religious liberty and for people of faith has eroded significantly in recent decades.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
