Actress Ellen Page engaged in an extensive, six-minute back-and-forth with Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz at the Iowa State Fair on Friday over the potential impact of religious freedom legislation on the LGBT community.
The actress addressed Cruz as he stood behind a grill with a pork chop in hand, a tradition for presidential candidates at the fair.
Page pushed back against what she said is an interpretation of religious liberty that other generations used to defend discrimination.
"In the past during the segregation era or when women were trying to get the right to vote, religious liberty was often used to defend and justify that discrimination," Page said.
Cruz responded: "If you look at the history of defeating slavery, if you look at the history of defeating Jim Crow, it was leaders of the church that played critical roles," Cruz said. "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."
