Ocasio-Cortez – or AOC, as she is universally known by her initials –added that she believed Jesus would be “maligned as a radical” by today’s Congress because of his message of love and inclusion.

“If Christ himself walked through these doors and said what he said thousands of years ago – that we should love our neighbour and our enemy, that we should welcome the stranger, fight for the least of us, that is is easier… for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into a kingdom of heaven – he would be maligned as a radical and rejected from these doors,” she told the hearing.

Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at a committee on oversight and reform hearing which is considering whether the government has tried to undermine LGBTQ+ rights. The Trump administration has been accused of using executive orders, amicus briefs in legal disputes and agency guidance and regulations to roll back protections for this community. An amicus brief is an attempt by an uninvolved-but-interested party to influence a court decision.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just delivered a sermon to Congress on LGBTQ+ rights and religious freedom