HOUSTON — Campaign ads are not required to be factual, but some ads may oversimplify what an issue pertains to. In the campaign ad approved by Sen. Ted Cruz, it claims, "Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls bathrooms, boys and girls locker rooms, boys and girls sports."
"A good campaign ad will definitely promote the truth, and we'll have evidence to back it up, but obviously, because it's a campaign ad, it's going to have a particular spin on it, that spin may be a little bit misleading depending on how it's structured," says University of Houston Political Science Professor Brandon Rottinghaus.
The KHOU 11 Verify Team found the claims come from two different pieces of legislation Rep. Colin Allred voted on as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
THE CLAIM
"Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls bathrooms, boys and girls locker rooms, boys and girls sports." - Ted Cruz for Senate Ad
THE SOURCES
H.R. 734 - The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act
H.R. 5- The Equality Act
Colin Allred Campaign
Ted Cruz Campaign
Brandon Rottinghaus, University of Houston Political Science Professor
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Election Commission
THE ANSWER
WHAT WE FOUND
The two claims made in the campaign ad center on H.R. 734 - The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and H.R. 5- The Equality Act. Each bill respectively had votes along party lines. Neither piece of legislation has ever been brought up to the U.S. Senate floor but did clear the House chamber.
The 2021 Equality Act
Was a Democrat-backed bill that prohibited discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The bill also empowered the Department of Justice to intervene in equal protection actions in federal court. The measure would have, if passed amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include those proposed protections, in addition to outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion sex, and national origin. The bill was not about allowing access "for boys in girls' bathrooms," but rather prohibiting individuals from being denied access to shared facilities including restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee had a hearing on this bill in March 2021. As a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Cruz participated in the hearing. At the time of the hearing, Cruz made no mention of the claim the ad makes, instead in 2021, his argument against the bill was over on concerns Cruz had about Title IX.
The 2023 Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act
This was a Republican-backed bill that would have prohibited school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that were for women or girls. The measure passed the U.S. House of Representatives along party lines but was not taken up in the U.S. Senate for consideration. The bill faced heavy criticism from the National Education Association (NEA). In a letter, the NEA asked representatives were asked to vote "no" to the bill because the NEA claimed it would, "exclude transgender students from participating in activities and opportunities that should be available to all students." The White House also informed Congress at the time President Joe Biden would veto the legislation if it were presented to the President.
According to the National Women's Law Center, several other national, state, and local organizations signed a letter to Congress saying, the bill "unmistakably constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex."
According to the roll call for each vote on the bills, Allred voted with his fellow Democrats on both bills.
University of Houston Political Science Professor, Brandon Rottinghaus says, "Ted Cruz can get some serious mileage out of making claims about how liberal Colin Allred is. That might appeal to a certain kind of voter who is looking to see what those contrasts look like."