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Ted Cruz told supporters on Wednesday that allowing a transgender student to use a faculty restroom amounts to "inflicting" the student on teachers but is a better alternative than "sticking him in the shower with the teenage girls."

At a campaign stop in Spirit Lake, Iowa, Cruz blasted the Department of Education for “trying to force a junior high to let a teenage boy shower with the teenage girls.” He often cites this on campaign stops as an example of federal overreach.

Amid a pause and an audible “oh my” from someone in the crowd, Cruz continued, “Look, my five-year-old daughter, Catherine – she knows the difference between boys and girls.”

Cruz asked the audience how they would feel if their local school board allowed such an incident to happen.

A woman, who would not give her name to NBC News, interrupted and told Cruz and the crowd about such an incident at the town’s local high school, saying the student used the bathroom in the teachers’ lounge.

Cruz responded, “Look, I don’t know the facts of that, but I’ll say that inflicting – inflicting him on the teachers is probably better than sticking him in the shower with the teenage girls.”

The woman said after the event that the high school student identifies herself as a female.