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Ellen Page Confronts Ted Cruz in Iowa: “You’re Discriminating Against LGBT People”

Cruz, a devout Christian senator from Texas, was grilling pork chops at the time.

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The heated exchange captured by ABC News shows the Republican presidential candidate taken by surprise Friday afternoon after Page sidled up to the row of journalists surrounding the grill. Cruz told Page he would be happy to answer her questions but he would not be goaded into a debate. They were discussing where the line needs to be drawn as far as discrimination against gays & lesbians was concerned and how to protect religious liberties. He said that he is protecting Christian business owners “who have been sanctioned by their government because of their religious beliefs”. Cruz, a self-described “courageous conservative” who opposes same-sex marriage, trotted out a hypothetical about a gay florist who might not want to work an evangelical couple’s wedding. Interestingly both Cruz and Page were born in Canada.

‘I don’t know, I would love to talk to Obama about it, ‘ Page responded. Page is a lesbian.

Ms Page, 28, persisted with her line of questioning only to have it turned back on her by Mr Cruz. “Reverend Martin Luther King stood up against – you know, you read the letter from the Birmingham jail, where he calls upon the conscience of Christians to stand up”. Cruz asked? “[It’s still happening] all over the world!”

Cruz parried back that gays are being executed in Iraq and Iran and the left is doing nothing for them.

“That’s not true”, Page interjected, as he spoke.

Page replied, “For discriminating against LGBT people?”

“Does that trouble you at all that you draw a moral equivalence between Christians in Jamaica and radical Islamic terrorists in ISIS that are beheading children?” “The last 24 hours at the United States Supreme Court were among the darkest hours of our nation”, he said the day after the ruling at an event in Iowa.

“What about the question about LGBT people being fired for being gay-trans?” the actress asked.

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“Ma’am, we’ve had a long discussion”, he said with a nod. “Don’t do that”, Page said.

Opinion: Cruz, the most underestimated candidate