Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a candidate for
the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, attended an event at the
apartment of two gay hoteliers.
According to The New York Times,
Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, a former couple turned business
partners, hosted Cruz and his wife, Heidi, at their Manhattan
apartment on Monday. Roughly a dozen people attended the dinner and
“fireside chat.”
“Ted Cruz said, 'If one of my
daughters was gay, I would love them just as much,” Reisner told
the Times.
Cruz is an outspoken opponent of
marriage equality and has previously sided with supporters of
so-called religious freedom laws and opponents of LGBT protections.
Last week, Cruz called on Christians to
“take a stand” against same-sex marriage through prayer as
the Supreme Court looks at the issue.
“So the juxtaposition of Mr. Cruz
being the guest of honor at a home owned by two of the most visible
gay businessmen in New York City was striking,” the
paper wrote.
Reisner and Weiderpass are partners at
Parkview Developers. Out NYC, a hotel on West 42nd Street
in Manhattan that caters to a gay clientele, is its most visible
project. An OUTpost Pines Hotel to be located in the gay mecca of
the Fire Island Pines is projected to open next summer.