Ted Cruz badgers HRC president about gender during Senate hearing on LGBTQ+ rights

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) subverted his Harvard debate skills Wednesday to badger the new president of the Human Rights Campaign at a Senate hearing focused on LGBTQ+ rights.

Maybe he was jealous of her title.

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The harassment happened at the Senate’s “Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans” hearing and was directed at newly appointed HRC president Kelley Robinson, among other LGBTQ+ advocates and individuals.

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The Republican Senate minority fielded some hostile witnesses, as well, who earned Cruz’s saccharine admiration.

It was Robinson, however, that the presidential also-ran lavished the most attention on, with a repeated refrain that mocked the concept of gender identity.

After test-driving his question with Riley Gaines, who came out as vehemently anti-trans when she famously lost to trans swimmer Lia Thomas last year — she gave Cruz a whining recollection of her “betrayal” — the senator turned his attention to Robinson.

“Is there a difference between women and men?” Cruz asked the HRC chief ten different ways ’til Sunday.

Robinson, 36, wouldn’t take the bait.

“If the question is about trans women…” Robinson began.

“I’m just asking, is there a difference between women and men?” Cruz asked again.

“What I can say is that NCAA has rules in place. They’ve had rules in place for the last decade,” Robinson answered. 

“I’m going to try again. Do you believe there’s a difference between women and men? It’s a yes/no question,” Cruz asserted. “Do you believe there’s a difference?”

“I think we’re talking about this case with the NCAA,” Robinson replied.

“No, I’m asking a question,” Cruz said. “Do you believe there’s a difference between women and men? Most people could answer this very simply. I’m curious if you’re willing to do so.”

As Robinson started explaining “definitions relating to sex,” Cruz stepped on her reply.

“So I’m trying to get a yes or no. I’m not trying to get a speech,” he said. “Is there a difference between women and men? 

“I think that there are definitions for biological sex which are different than gender,” Robinson responded.

The grilling seemed to leave Cruz exasperated and self-satisfied in equal measure.

For her part, Robinson, who is gay, married, and got her start in activism as an organizer for Barack Obama, stuck with the facts in her remarks.

“One in five of every hate crime is motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias,” Robinson testified. “These bad bills targeting the community are often accompanied by campaigns of misinformation and lies. It’s sowing fear and transphobia in communities. The very fact that we can’t identify Lia Thomas as a transgender woman is playing into the fear and anxiety that’s motivating these hate crimes.”