This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

It’s the type of tricky question designed to trip up a presidential candidate. But the US senator Elizabeth Warren’s deadpan response when quizzed about same-sex marriage during a TV debate drew applause and widespread admiration.

During the CNN forum on LGBT issues on Thursday, Morgan Cox, the chair of the Human Rights Campaign board of directors, asked Warren how she would react to a supporter who said: “I’m old-fashioned and my faith teaches me that marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Warren replied: “Well, I’m going to assume it’s a guy who said that. And I’m going to say, then just marry one woman. I’m cool with that. Assuming you can find one.”

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The Democratic candidate’s popularity in the polls has been rising steadily and she is now considered a serious challenger to Joe Biden, the early frontrunner to be the party’s 2020 presidential nominee.

Before the event, Warren put forward a plan to further secure LGBT rights and declared her support for the Equality Act, which is backed by most Democrats. If passed, the bill would add LGBT protections to federal anti-discrimination law.

She also promised to elevate LGBT concerns by appointing a special envoy at the state department.

Warren later reflected on how faith has an influence on many people’s views about the LGBT community, and recited the first song she remembered learning as a child in Oklahoma.

“They are yellow, black and white. They are precious in his sight. Jesus loves all the children of the world,” she sang.

“That was the basis of the faith I grew up in,” she said, growing more serious. “It truly is about the preciousness of each and every life. It is about the worth of every human being.