16-Year Old Accompanied by His Mother Says ‘Cruz Volunteers Outside, They Laughed at Us’
A transgender teenaged boy says he was just kicked out of Ted Cruz’s rally in Frederick, Maryland because he’s transgender. James Van Kuilenburg says he and his mother attended the rally Thursday “to gain a better understanding of his platform.” They had tickets, entered the rally, and “were very respectful and abided by all the rules the people at entrance communicated to us,” James writes on his Facebook page.
“We went in, sitting down and waiting for the speech to begin. We were silent and respectful. Before we even had a chance to see Cruz, I was tapped on the shoulder. When I turned, there was a Campaign Staff member, asking me to leave.”
James says he is “a visibly trans person,” and “proud of it, so I wore my trans pride flag around my shoulders and a National Center for Transgender Equality shirt. The campaign staff member kept holding on to me, saying the ‘event staff were asking me to leave.'”
James says that staff members repeatedly “grabbed” him  and ultimately “pushed” him “out of the venue.” He says they called him “ma’am,” and told him he was “trespassing.”
He says that even though he had not been disruptive they said they “had ‘observed us taking part in a event outside.'”
“When trying to explain what had happened to the Cruz volunteers outside, they laughed at us,” James says. “The level of disrespect and aggression there was outstanding.”
The Fredrick News-Post reports James “said he attended to show Cruz supporters that rhetoric about gay and transgender rights hurts real people, like him.”
“The fact that I’m thrown out based on my identity is ridiculous,†he told the paper.Â
Here’s a short clip of Cruz’s speech from that rally:
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Image: Screenshot via FrederickNewsPost/YouTube