Ted Cruz Backs North Carolina’s Bathroom Privacy Law

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is backing North Carolina’s new bathroom privacy law, which affirms the long-standing public expectation that men should use men’s bathrooms, and women should use women’s bathrooms.

“As the father of daughters, I’m not terribly excited about men being able to go alone into a bathroom with my daughters,” Cruz said, during an MSNBC town hall in Buffalo, in advance of the New York State primary. “And I think that’s a perfectly reasonable determination for the people to make.”

“I’m a constitutionalist,” the Texas senator added in response to questions from Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. “And the state has the power to pass their own laws.”

In Buffalo, NY @tedcruz does an @MSNBC townhall with @chucktodd. Check it out at 8pmET tonight: #Decision2016 pic.twitter.com/TVNNV9tM8z

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) April 14, 2016

As CNN reports, the new law stirred opposition from LGBT agenda sympathizers. But very few people want to use the other sex’s bathrooms — roughly 0.3 percent of Americans, or 1 in 330, change their name from one sex to the other.

Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in North Carolina, and PayPal halted plans to open a new facility in Charlotte in the wake of the law’s passage. The NBA also threatened to move the 2017 All-Star game from North Carolina – home of the Charlotte Hornets – to another venue.

On Tuesday, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) issued an executive order that he said serves to “affirm and improve” his state’s “commitment to privacy and equality” in the wake of a new privacy law.

“After listening to people’s feedback for the past several weeks on this issue, I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion, and frankly selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina,” said McCrory in a video message about his executive order. “Based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the state’s commitment to privacy and equality.”

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins urged McCrory to stand firm and continue to defend the new law.

He said in a statement:

The Left’s response to Governor McCrory’s executive order shows it has no interest in a ‘live and let live’ policy, and could care less about the commonsense privacy concerns of parents and families throughout North Carolina, even when it comes to the question of letting grown men use women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.

“While we don’t think Governor McCrory needed to provide additional clarity, his executive order does not change the law he just signed to prevent local governments from forcing people to violate their beliefs about sexuality and expectations of privacy,” Perkins added.