Speaking Sunday at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) gala in New York, President Barack Obama said that freedom of religion should not interfere with the constitutional rights of Americans.

“We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions,” Obama said in addressing members of the LGBT community. “But we also have to say clearly that our religious freedom doesn't grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights.”

“And that even as we are respectful and accommodating genuine concerns and interests of religious institutions, we need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as ways to scare up votes. That's not how we move America forward.”

The comments were apparently a reference to the controversy surrounding Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who was found in contempt by a federal judge after losing a series of legal appeals for refusing to comply with the Supreme Court's summer ruling striking down gay marriage bans in all 50 states. Davis has said that issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples would violate her conscience.

Obama was introduced Sunday by Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges, the legal case that led to the Supreme Court's ruling.

The president also highlighted some of his administration's achievements in promoting LGBT rights.

“[W]e live in an America where 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is something that don't exist,” he said, a reference to the Pentagon policy that barred gays from serving openly in the military.

“And tonight, thanks to the unbending sense of justice passed down through generations of citizens who never gave up hope that we could bring this country closer to our founding ideals … we now live in an America where our marriages are equal as well,” he added.