Ever since North Carolina passed its controversial HB2 into law, which limits public facilities access for transgender people, everyone has offered their two cents on the matter. From musicians, businesses and the National Basketball Association, to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, anyone with media access has leaned in on the measure — despite Governor Pat McCrory’s unhelpful clarification. Despite all the negative publicity, however, Trump rival Ted Cruz has been one of the law’s most outspoken proponents. He even addressed the matter directly with some rather harsh remarks on Saturday.
According to the Washington Blade, Cruz spoke about HB2 and the national fallout during a campaign stop in Plainfield, Indiana over the weekend. At first, it seemed the junior senator from Texas was actually defending transgender rights:
“Every one of us has the right to live our lives as we wish. If any one of us wants to dress up as a woman or man and wants to live as woman or man and believes that we might be something other than what we were born, God has made each of us with free will and the ability to choose to do. If a man to wants to dress as a woman, and live as a woman, and have a bathroom at home.”
Things took a turn when a person off-camera asked if, per his final remark, Cruz was suggesting that transgender men and women should only use their private bathrooms at home:
“You don’t have a right to intrude upon the rights of others, because whether or not a man believes he’s a woman, there are a lot of women who would like to be able to use a public restroom in peace without having a man there. And when there are children involved, you don’t have a right to impose your lifestyle on others.”
Following Trump’s apparent anti-HB2 stance, as evidenced during his appearance on Today last week, Cruz launched a series of attacks against the Republican front-runner in press releases and advertising. “Donald Trump is no different from politically correct leftist elites,” Cruz said in a statement, adding: “He joined them in calling for grown men to be allowed to use little girls’ public restrooms. As the dad of young daughters, I dread what this will mean for our daughters — and for our sisters and our wives.”
No word yet on what Caitlyn Jenner, Cruz’s self-appointed “trans ambassador,” has to say about the Republican presidential hopeful’s latest comments.
(Via Washington Blade, Wall Street Journal and Ted Cruz on YouTube)