U.S. Senator Ted Cruz smirks from the stage at last year’s Student Action Summit. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, informed a gathering of right-wing college students that his pronoun is “kiss my ass” during a speech intended to mock gender identity.

Cruz’s comment came Friday at Turning Point USA’s annual Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida. Former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Gov. Ron DeSantis and Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham were among the other far-right figures expected to appear, according to Creative Loafing Tampa.

In his speech, Cruz said part of him “celebrates” every time people offer their gender pronouns to others. His logic? Such pronouncements are “accelerating the country coming back” by spurring a backlash. Hmm. OK.

“I talked to a student recently at one of our woke college campuses who said she’s required in every class to introduce herself and to give her pronouns,” he added. “Well, I’m Ted Cruz, and my pronoun is ‘kiss my ass.'”

The statement set off cheers from the crowd.

However, as could be expected, it also triggered a barrage of slams on Twitter — no small number of which touched on Cruz’s apparently insatiable appetite for kissing Donald Trump’s flabby orange posterior. 

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This article appears in Jul 13-26, 2022.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...