Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday accused the media of being obsessed with sex after fielding several questions on marriage equality.

The Republican presidential hopeful sparred with reporters on his way to meet privately with Jefferson County officials in Beaumont, Texas, according to The Texas Tribune.

“Is there something about the Left – and I am going to put the media in this category – that is obsessed with sex?” Cruz rhetorically asked after being asked multiple questions on gay rights. “ISIS is executing homosexuals – you want to talk about gay rights?”

“This week was a very bad week for gay rights because the expansion of ISIS, the expansion of radical, theocratic, Islamic zealots that crucify Christians, that behead children and that murder homosexuals – that ought to be concerning you far more than asking six questions all on the same topic.”

Cruz is leading the fight against marriage equality in the Senate, introducing a constitutional amendment which would exclude gay couples from marriage by defining the institution as between a man and a woman and a bill which seeks to prohibit federal courts from ruling on cases related to marriage.

He defended his efforts, calling the expansion of “mandatory same-sex marriage” an assault on religious liberty.