Gay Republican Challenges Ted Cruz on Anti-LGBT 'Religious Liberty' Laws

BY YEZMIN VILLARREAL
APRIL 18 2016 3:51 PM EDT

On ABC's Good Morning America today, a married gay Republican from New York asked Ted Cruz, "What would you do to protect me and my husband from institutionalized discrimination?"

He was referring to so-called religious freedom laws that have been enacted in states, such as Mississippi, that make it legal for businesses and individuals to deny service to LGBT people and others who offend their religious sensibilities. "When it comes to religious liberty, religious liberty is something that protects all of us; it applies to Christians, it applies to Jews, it applies to Muslims, it applies to atheists," Cruz told the man.

The Republican presidential hopeful told the man that no one wants to live in a world where the government is dictating how anyone lives. "We have a right to live according to our faith, according to our conscience. That freedom ultimately protects each and every one of us. We shouldn’t have the right to force others to knuckle under and give up their faith, give up their belief," he said.

GMA cohost Robin Roberts, the out journalist from Mississippi who told The Advocate that her home state's anti-LGBT law "hurts my soul," challenged Cruz, asking him, "When you talk about freedom, what he referred to with his husband, a lot of people would say, doesn’t everybody have the freedom to be treated equally, don’t we all have the freedom to be equal?”

http://www.advocate.com/election/2016/4/18/gay-republican-challenges-ted-cruz-anti-lgbt-religious-liberty-laws