Ted Cruz is scaremongering about transgender people and bathrooms
Ted Cruz wants you to worry about something that's never reportedly happened in America.
On Thursday, Donald Trump came out against North Carolina's anti-LGBTQ law, which prohibits transgender people from using the bathroom in schools and government buildings that aligns with their gender identity. Trump pointed out a simple fact: In the places that let trans people use the bathroom of their choice, there have not been problems — no increase in sexual assault or harassment, as critics have warned.
"There have been very few complaints the way it is," Trump said. "People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble."
Shortly after, Cruz posted a Facebook video warning viewers, "Should a grown man pretending to be a woman be allowed to use the women's restroom? The same restroom used by your daughter? Your wife? Donald Trump thinks so. It's not appropriate. It's not safe. It's PC nonsense that's destroying America."
This perpetuates the same myth supporters of North Carolina's law used: the idea that if trans people can use the bathroom of their choice, men will disguise themselves as women to go into women's bathrooms and sexually assault and harass women.
The evidence is on Trump's side. In two investigations, Media Matters confirmed with experts and officials in 12 states and 17 school districts with protections for LGBTQ people that they had no increases in sex crimes after they enacted LGBTQ protections, which generally let trans people use the bathroom they want.
PolitiFact North Carolina validated Media Matters' findings, digging up only one case in Toronto, Canada, in which a man posed as a woman to gain access to women's shelters and attacked people. But the attacks happened before Ontario, where Toronto is, passed its nondiscrimination law, and the man was sentenced to an "indefinite" prison term for his acts.
Nonetheless, the bathroom and public safety concerns remain widespread among religious conservatives in particular. Since religious conservatives are a big part of Cruz's base, it's not much of a surprise that Cruz is trying to leverage the myth against Trump — facts or not.
Watch: How most states still allow discrimination against LGBTQ people
Correction: Clarified details about the Toronto incident to note that, despite PolitiFact's reporting, it happened before Ontario passed its nondiscrimination law.