Ellen Page went head-to-head with Ted Cruz on Friday, Aug. 21, as the Republican presidential candidate was grilling pork chops at the Iowa State Fair.
The verbal confrontation, which was captured by ABC News, will also be part of Page's TV show, Gaycation With Ellen Page, her rep told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday. The Vice Media series has been shooting across cities of the world, and has made its way back to the United States.
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As evidenced in the video, Page and Cruz got into a lively debate about LGBT rights, religious freedom, and more. Page asked Cruz at one point about gays and trans people being fired from jobs, which prompted Cruz to reply: "Well, what we’re seeing right now, we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith."
Page, 28, who is openly lesbian, retorted: "You’re discriminating against LGBT people."
During their discussion, he also gave a depiction of a scenario in reverse, bringing up the story of Betty and Dick Odgaard. The couple faced fines after refusing to allow same-sex marriages at their wedding venue.
"Imagine, hypothetically, you had a gay florist and imagine two evangelicals wanted to get married," Cruz noted to the Juno actress. "And they decide, ‘You know what, I disagree with your faith and I don’t want to provide flowers.'"
Page has become a gay rights activist, even delivering an emotional speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s Time to Thrive conference last February. "[It was] the most nervous I've ever been in my life," she later told Ellen DeGeneres of the lauded speech. "My biggest fear of doing it was even just having a panic attack. I was just so ready to do it and quite frankly so excited to do it. It was a combination of such thrill to finally be at a place in my life where I was able to do that."
Watch the video of her confrontation with Cruz above.
