School district tells Ted Cruz to pull anti-trans attack ads featuring pictures of cis teen girls

Republican senator Ted Cruz has been slammed for using an image of minor female students without permission in an ad to attack transgender athletes.

Cruz, 53, who hopes to win a third term against Democratic representative Collin Allred in 5 November election, has been asked by the Beaverton School District in Oregon to take down two adverts that attack trans athletes. 

The adverts accuse his Dallas opponent, Allerd, of supporting pro-trans policies that would enable trans athletes to compete on teams that align with the gender identity. 

In his bid to brand Allerd as “too radical for Texas” the advert shows two girls at a track meet. One advert includes the text “boys in girls’ sports”, while the other shows Allerd looking toward the picture with text that reads, “Colin Allerd voted to allow boys in girls’ sports.”

‘It is alarming…’

The Beaverton School District wrote to Cruz in response to the adverts, calling for a picture, which was used without permission from the girls’ parents or school district, to be taken down. 

In the letter, the district said the advert “implies” the girls are trans, which they aren’t. 

“It is alarming that your campaign would have produced/distributed/promoted this ad with false information, especially with minor children involved,” the letter adds, before calling for the advert to be pulled from “any and all distribution platforms immediately”. 

A spokesman for Cruz’s campaign has said the adverts are no longer airing, however, both are still on YouTube. 

The controversy follows a similar one earlier this month, when Republican campaign leaflets misrepresented the story of a trans man who competed against girls in high school wrestling, after he was prevented from taking on boys as he wanted.

The flier was sent to voters in Texas as a way of attacking Democrat Colin Allred.

It features a blurry image from 2017 of high school wrestler Mack Beggs, a trans man who was banned from competing against boys and forced to participate in the female category. Beggs won a number of women’s titles but because he was made to compete in a category that did not match his gender, he often felt as if he was winning and losing at the same time and was in a very “dark place” in terms of his mental health.

Allerd has responded to Cruz’s claims saying that he is “lying again”, this time “about our children”. He states that he “does not want boys playing girls’ sports”. 

In a new ad, Colin Allred says he opposes biological males playing in women’s sports. He claims it’s one of Ted Cruz’s many lies to suggest otherwise.

Allred voted against legislation meant to protect women’s sports. pic.twitter.com/B2eFqKmyIW

— James Lynch (@jameslynch32) October 11, 2024

Last year, alongside every Democrat, Allerd voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. The bill, which defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth”, would have prohibited federally funded education programs from allowing trans women to participate in sports programs.