Anti-gay Republican brands Ellen Page a ‘fascist’ after argument over LGBT rights
Ellen Page attends the premiere of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy at ArcLight Hollywood on February 12, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Rich Fury/Getty)
Republican Ted Cruz appears to have suggested that actress Ellen Page a “liberal fascist” – after she challenged his opposition to LGBT rights.
The Juno star, who came out as gay last year, cornered the Presidential wannabe as he was flipping burgers for a campaign photo op at the Iowa State Fair last week – and proceeded to grill him about his homophobic beliefs.
Senator Cruz is one of the most notoriously anti-LGBT Republicans in contention for the Presidential nomination, filing desperate bills to permit anti-gay discrimination on religious grounds, and congratulating homophobic businesspeople for refusing to serve gays.
When the X-Men actress asked him about “LGBT people being fired for being gay or trans”, he flatly denied that gay people are persecuted, claiming that “right now we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith”.
Speaking to Newsmax after the incident, he said he was unsurprised she disagreed.
He said: “I don’t think it’s likely that a whole lot of Hollywood celebrities are going to get behind my campaign any time soon. It’s not a big surprise she and I had some disagreements there.”
He continues: “An analogy that I used with Ms Page today as we were flipping porkchops, I said imagine if this were inverted, imagine there were a gay florist. I know it’s hard to imagine a gay florist, but just go with it.
“Imagine two evangelical Christians came to a gay florist and they wanted to get married, and the florist said ‘I disagree with your faith’. You have no entitlement to force that florist to provide flowers at the Christian wedding.
Referring to her argument, he added: “What we’re seeing right now is this liberal fascism and intolerance, where their object is to persecute, to punish, to fine any Bible-following Christian or believer that believes in the Biblical definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
Ms Page has not responded to his claims that she is a ‘fascist’.
Cruz also claimed that some ‘unfortunate’ gay activists “manifest a hatred and intolerance for Christians” and “are persecuting Christians”.
Ellen Page recently attended a Pride event in Jamaica, where gay people risk death by vigilante mobs and homosexuality is illegal.
