Michelle Obama delivers Jackson State University commencement speech by bashing transgender bathroom law
Michelle Obama criticized Mississippi’s newly-signed religious freedom bill on Saturday during her commencement speech at Jackson State University, contrasting it to civil rights movement and societal “progress.”
“We see it right here in Mississippi, just two weeks ago, how swiftly progress can hurtle backward,” The First Lady told students during her speech. “How easy it is to single out a small group and marginalize them because of who they are or who they love.”
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, which prohibits the government from punishing those who pass up forms of participation in marital events for religious reasons and requires bathroom use to the person’s genetic make up.
photo/ screenshot ABC video coverage Michelle Obama at Jackson State University
“The state government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person wholly or partially on the basis that the person has provided or declined to provide … services, accommodations, facilities, goods, or privileges for a purpose related to the solemnization, formation, celebration, or recognition of any marriage, based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction,” the law states.
“It’s about making things more just, more equal, more free for all our kids and grandkids,” she stated. “That’s the story you all have the opportunity to write. That’s what this historic university has prepared you to do.”
Bryant had defended his signing of the law by noting that it “merely reinforces the rights which currently exist to exercise of religious freedom as stated in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
“Mississippians from all walks of life believe that the government shouldn’t punish someone because of their views on marriage,” also stated Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Kellie Fiedorek. “After all, you’re not free if your beliefs are confined to your mind. What makes America unique is our freedom to peacefully live out those beliefs, and the Constitution protects that freedom.”
