WATCH ABOVE: Canadian actress Ellen Page grilled Republican Ted Cruz over his views on LGBT rights and using religious liberty to discriminate against the LGBT community.
The Iowa State Fair is prime turf for presidential hopefuls to mingle and schmooze with everyday American voters, but Republican candidate — and former Canadian citizen — Ted Cruz took some heat from Canadian actress Ellen Page while working the barbecue grill.
The Halifax-born actress confronted the Texas senator Friday, during his pork chop grilling photo-op in state capital Des Moines, over the discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Page, 28, questioned Cruz about “LGBT people getting fired for strictly for being gay or trans.”
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But Cruz quickly rebutted that it’s “Bible-believing Christians being persecuted.”
“Yeah, for discriminating against LGBT people,” Page, who came out as gay in 2014, interjected.
Cruz argued Christians are being discriminated “for living according to their faith,” which the Academy Award-nominated Juno star snapped back that “people used that argument in the segregation era.
Cruz, who was born in Calgary and was a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen until he renounced his Canadian citizenship in order to run for president, tried to back away from the exchange, saying he’d answer the question but didn’t want to engage in a “back and forth” debate.
But that’s what happened for about four minutes as reporters, political aides, supporters and spectators looked on.
Cruz tried to make the case that Christian business owners were being forced to “abandon their faith and their conscience,” giving the example of Iowa couple Dick and Betty Odgaard, who were taken to the state’s Civil Rights Commission after refusing to hold a same-sex wedding in their church-turned-wedding venue in 2013.
The devout Mennonite couple eventually paid a $5,000 settlement to the couple but vowed not to host any weddings rather than having to allow same-sex weddings. In July they finally closed their business. They are set to appear at Cruz’s “Rally for Religious Liberty” Friday evening.
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The presidential hopeful also tried to redirect the argument to the execution of LGBT people by ISIS and the Iranian regime.
“ISIS is executing gay people, Iran is executing homosexuals, and on the left you hear complete silence about Iran hanging homosexuals,” he told the former Trailer Park Boys actress.
She countered his point by saying Christians in Uganda and Jamaica also persecute LGBT people, often violently. But, Cruz saw no comparison.
“But, 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?” he asked Page. “There is a difference between a community like Jamaica — they have different standards, they may not be celebrating a gay pride parade, but they’re not murdering people.”
READ MORE: Canada’s Ellen Page shows support for Jamaica’s first Pride celebration
Jamaica’s first gay pride celebration was held earlier this month. Anti-gay sentiment is rampant in the Caribbean island nation and the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays reported in 2012 a survey found 65 per cent of Jamaicans didn’t want the country’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms to include protections for LGBT people. JFLAG also documented 231 anti-gay incidents between 2009 and 2012, from threats of violence to sexual assault and murder.
Page eventually stepped away as Cruz carried on with his campaign stop. Responding to a reporter afterward, Cruz said it was a “conversation about religious liberty” and one that Page didn’t appear to want to have. He also claimed he did not know the woman challenging his views was Page.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Page was in Iowa filming the Vice Media series Gaycation with Ellen Page and the face-off will end up in the show.
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