Stephanie Wang

stephanie.wang@indystar.com

BORDEN, Ind. — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz made a play for conservative evangelical Hoosier voters at a Monday rally in Southern Indiana by reasserting his opposition to transgender people using public bathrooms based on their gender identity.

“If Donald Trump dresses up as Hillary Clinton, he still can’t use the little girls’ restroom,” Cruz said.

Transgender access to restrooms has become a talking point in the Republican presidential race, with candidates Cruz, R-Texas, and Trump falling on opposite sides of the issue. After North Carolina passed a controversial law that requires transgender people to use bathrooms based on their birth sex, Trump called the law unnecessary and said he did not have a problem with transgender people choosing which restroom to use.

But Cruz vehemently opposes transgender rights, saying predatory men could dress as women in order to enter public bathrooms and attack women and children.

It’s a particularly sensitive issue in Indiana, where social conservatives latched onto the same argument in discussions over nondiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers. LGBT advocates denounce the argument as a misleading scare tactic that capitalizes on people’s unfamiliarity and misconceptions of transgender people, equating them with criminals.

Uncertainty over legislating bathroom use for transgender people ultimately stalled a proposal this year to write LGBT rights into law.

“It doesn’t make any sense at all to let grown adult men — strangers — to be alone in bathrooms with little girls,” Cruz said Monday. “And anyone saying differently is political correctness on steroids.”

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His stance gained a warm reception from the crowd at Huber's Plantation Hall in Starlight, Ind., less than 20 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky. Several people called out, “Amen!”

Cruz also promised, “I will not compromise your religious liberty.”

But while those statements may appeal to Indiana's social conservatives, Cruz could risk alienating a faction of Indiana Republicans who have supported gay rights and want to stay away from touchy social issues in politics.

Still, an alliance forged with Ohio Gov. John Kasich aims to capture the "anti-Trump" votes for Cruz. Kasich has stepped back from wooing Hoosier voters to "give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana," his campaign said in a statement, while Cruz will reciprocate in New Mexico and Oregon.

In Indiana, Cruz has strongly denounced Trump's breezy brashness and pitched himself as a better candidate to match up against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election. Recent polls of Indiana show Cruz slightly trailing Trump, but he gains ground if Kasich isn't considered in the race.

To appeal to Hoosiers, Cruz has also been stressing the importance of Indiana's coal industry and manufacturing jobs. At Huber's, he called out to "single moms... truck drivers, all the plumbers and mechanics, coal miners and steelworkers, union members, all the men and women with callouses on their hands who have seen wages stagnating year after year."

"If Donald Trump is the nominee, Hillary Clinton wins and Indiana's coal industry will be bankrupted," Cruz told supporters. "Tens of thousands of jobs will be lost in the state of Indiana if Donald Trump is the nominee, because it guarantees Hillary Clinton the win."

He also praised the economic policies of popular former Gov. Mitch Daniels — Kasich supporters like to compare their candidate to him — and current Gov. Mike Pence, who has traction with the state's socially conservative and evangelical circles.

"We need a president in the spirit of Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence," Cruz said.

At a later rally at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Franklin, Cruz noted more young folks in the audience.

"This is not your father's GOP," he said.

Cruz spent four of the last five days campaigning in Indiana, making several stops in smaller cities across Indiana. In contrast, Trump held a large rally of thousands at a pavilion inside the Indiana State Fairgrounds last week, with another rally planned Wednesday at an even larger fairgrounds venue.

IndyStar reporter Jill Disis contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.