The Labor Department last week held a prayer service for its employees, which included a speech from a right-wing orthodox Jewish rabbi who made a series of remarks disparaging same-sex marriage and transgender people, CNN reported.

“I am an out queer person in the workplace and I don’t appreciate being spoken about in that hateful way,” an employee watching the event told CNN.

Yaakov Menken, the rabbi at the service, said that his remarks were not hateful and that he was instead advocating for “religious liberty” in the workplace.

The service was held at the Frances Perkins Building’s largest event space and featured remarks from Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

DOL said in a statement that the service was voluntary and nondenominational.

The event comes after the Office of Personnel Management issued a memo earlier this year allowing federal employees to promote their faith to their colleagues, display religious items and pray together.

Cover Image: DOL Exterior by Shawn T. Moore at the Department of Labor, accessed via Wikimedia Commons with CC BY 2.0 Deed