Ted Cruz and Donald Trump argue over bathroom rights

Ted Cruz, speaking Wednesday in Florida, ﻿may have a better chance at a contested convention if he can keep Trump at least 100 delegates short of a majority. Ted Cruz, speaking Wednesday in Florida, ﻿may have a better chance at a contested convention if he can keep Trump at least 100 delegates short of a majority. Photo: Wilfredo Lee, STF Photo: Wilfredo Lee, STF Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Ted Cruz and Donald Trump argue over bathroom rights 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are arguing over who can use which bathrooms.

It's a national battle that sprouted last year in Houston, when opponents of the city's equal rights ordinance coined the phrase "no men in women's bathrooms" as an objection to transgender people using the facilities of the gender with which they identify.

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That nationally broadcast controversy helped stoke the issue in other states, which offered their own renditions of so-called "bathroom bills." Now, it's a talking point in the presidential race.

It started in earnest Thursday morning, when Trump told NBC's Today show that transgender people should "use the bathroom they feel is appropriate." That stance contrasts with most of the Republican Party.

Cruz shot back with a release press, saying "Trump isn't going to defeat political correctness; today he bowed down to it."

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"He has succumbed to the Left's agenda, which is to force Americans to leave God out of public life while paying lip service to false tolerance."

The political clash over bathroom rights, which was a marginal detail of Houston's ordinance, has centered on whether sexual predators would take advantage of a tolerant policy, dress like women and enter a bathroom maliciously.

Some transgender people, who suffer dissociation from the norms of their gendered appearance, contend that they already use the restrooms that make them comfortable, and people rarely notice.