Ted Cruz Fires Back at Caitlyn Jenner in the War Over Transgender Bathroom Access

Impact

Caitlyn Jenner's impromptu bathroom break at Trump Tower last week has seemingly failed to warm the heart of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. 

In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper last week, the notoriously anti-LGBT senator said that he is standing firm in his belief that allowing transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity "opens the door for predators."

Jenner made her political pit stop in protest of recent legislation, like North Carolina's HB2 law, which are aimed at preventing transgender individuals from using the bathroom that they feel most comfortable with.

In her homemade footage of the excursion, Jenner addresses Cruz directly after using the ladies' room in a building owned by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.  

"Thank you, Donald, I really appreciate it," Jenner says in the footage, "And by the way, Ted [Cruz], nobody got molested."

Cruz, who is currently vying to become the Republican presidential nominee, said that the bathroom legislation is a safeguard against threats to women's safety.

"This is not a matter of right or left, or Democrat or Republican. This is common sense. It doesn't make sense for grown adult men, strangers, to be alone in a restroom with a little girl," he said.

Cruz cited his "years in law enforcement" as the basis for his beliefs, although it remains unclear which experience the senator was referring to specifically.

"I've spent a lot of years in law enforcement dealing with child predators that are sick individuals," Cruz said. "That doesn't mean that that is the people who are transgendered. But there are predators in the world, and just saying that you're a man, you can go in the girls' restroom if you feel like it, opens the door for criminals."

To date, there have been no reported cases of a transgender person attacking someone in a bathroom. 

Read more: Caitlyn Jenner Used the Women's Bathroom at Trump Tower — And Took a Shot at Ted Cruz