When Ellen DeGeneres speaks, people listen, which is why it’s so important that she chooses to speak out for what’s right at the times she does. With her combination of searing insight and gentle humor, Ellen explains to her audience that Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant just signed one of the most hateful, anti-LGBT bills ever into law.
The law, entitled HB 1523, goes into effect in July and will allow businesses, individuals, and religiously affiliated organizations to deny service to LGBT people, single mothers, and others who somehow offend an individual's "sincerely held religious belief." It also directly targets transgender residents, effectively claiming that one's sex assigned at birth is immutable, and will be the only gender recognized by the state, according to The Advocate.
“I’m not a political person. I’m really not,” Ellen says about the bill. “But this is not politics. This is human rights.”
With a nod to discrimination from pastry and floral shop owners around same-sex marriage that has proliferated over the past few years, Ellen breaks down the law this way:
“Two cupcakes walk into a flower shop and they want to buy a dozen roses, but the florist doesn’t believe in selling flowers to cupcakes because they don’t have any money. But gay people do, so sell them the damned flowers.”
Finally, Ellen, who grew up in neighboring Louisiana ends with this personal statement that is also a challenge to Gov. Bryant.
“I was fired for being gay and I know what it feels like. I lost everything. Look at me now. I could buy that governor’s mansion, flip it and make a seven million dollar profit.”
Watch Ellen’s important monologue below.
Ramona (Amélie Hoeferle) on 'Sterling Point.' Courtesy of Prime
Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin), Maple (Mabel Strachan), Oona (Bo Bragason), and Ramona (Amélie Hoeferle) on 'Sterling Point.' Sabrina Lantos/Prime
