Jeff Sessions, DOJ create task force to promote (anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian evangelical supremacy) . . . er . . . religious liberty

The reality Jeff Sessions and the religious right want to create. They will fail.

In case you haven't realized it, this means war.

The following just happened this morning:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Department of Justice is creating a "religious liberty task force."

Sessions said the task force, co-chaired by Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio and the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, Beth Williams, will help the department fully implement the religious liberty guidance it issued last year. 

The guidance was a byproduct of President Trump’s executive order directing agencies to respect and protect religious liberty and political speech. Sessions said on Monday that the task force will “ensure all Justice Department components are upholding that guidance in the cases they bring and defend, the arguments they make in court, the policies and regulations they adopt, and how we conduct our operations.”

Do NOT be fooled.

From the tweets of one reporter, Dominic Holden of Buzzfeed, covering the so-called religious liberty summit where the task force was announced, this summit was all about right-wing evangelical power:

Jeff Sessions is hosting a politicized “Religious Liberty” Summit" at DOJ headquarters Monday that leans almost entirely on the Christian right.

It’s backed by ADF (the gay wedding cake group) and one of DOJ officials speaking is Kerri Kupec, who used to be ADF spokesperson. pic.twitter.com/4KS9WSf6kM

— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 27, 2018

For those don't remember Kupec, I wrote a post about her last year when she worked for the hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom. At that time, when challenged by the fact that ADF worked to criminalize homosexuality in places such as Jamaica and Belize, Kupec said the following

In its report, ABC says ADF (according to SPLC) "specializes in supporting the criminalization of homosexuality abroad." To which, Kupec responds: "I have no idea where that came from. That's fake news, for sure."

 But it wasn't fake news, as Media Matters proved.

Another speaker at this summit:

Archbishop Kurtz — inside DOJ headquarters, speaking right after Jeff Sessions — is currently talking about “partnering with the government” and the need to defend state-funded adoption agencies that turn away gay parents. pic.twitter.com/8LeY9WqXiP

— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 30, 2018

And just in case you don't know what this is all about:

Sessions warns of "dangerous movement” to threaten "religious freedom.”

He defends groups that have been, as he puts it, branded as “hate groups.”

He’s taking a jab at Southern Poverty Law Center and defending groups like anti-LGBT Family Research Council. pic.twitter.com/b7iUW2Oyc8

— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 30, 2018

If Sessions wants to use the "task force" to somehow harm SPLC, it would be interesting to watch because SPLC has documented proof of  its charges.

As does little ole me.

The Trump Administration, particularly the Justice Department, is in the hip pocket of the anti-LGBTQ evangelical right. What Sessions claims is "protecting religious liberty" is an attempt to legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination and create an unmentioned but obvious caste system which places conservative evangelicals on the top tier.

This is simply wrong. No matter how they attempt to dress it up, it is still discrimination. Get angry, spread the word, raise hell, and VOTE in November. We can and will defeat this blatant attempt to establish theocratic power.