Ted Cruz Once Waged War Against Sex Toys, Supporting A Statewide Ban

Ted Cruz once supported a ban on the sale of all dildos and sex toys and other items that can be used to “stimulate the genitals” as recently as 2007, media observers report. Back when Ted Cruz served as solicitor general for the state of Texas, he argued passionately in defense of a bill which would make the sale of dildos illegal, effectively banning the sale of sex toys in his home state of Texas.

According to The New York Times, this wasn’t the first time Ted Cruz used his office as solicitor general to further “conservative causes.” Ted Cruz frequently used his office as solicitor general of Texas to promote himself and his political ideology. Ted Cruz, during his tenure as solicitor general didn’t just support a ban on sex toy sales, but he also transformed the solicitor general’s office, from a relatively unknown, under-the-radar and fairly apolitical office into a political powerhouse.

Ted Cruz aggressively pursued a strongly conservative agenda while in office, frequently writing amicus briefs in support of Supreme Court cases on issues like abortion, gun control and vigorously defended his beliefs on those issues, including a ban on “dildos” and “marital aids.” Ted Cruz’s infamous opposition to the sale of sex toys in the state of Texas ultimately went nowhere, but Cruz argued passionately in favor of a ban of anything that could be used ‘to stimulate one’s genitals’ according to Slate. Cruz even went so far as to criticize individuals who would use such devices, comparing sex toys to polygamy and prostitution.

I'll give Ted Cruz my dildo when he pries it from my cold, dead hands. https://t.co/FSZKWoFwxc

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) April 13, 2016

“U.S. residents have no right to stimulate one’s genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship,” argued Ted Cruz in a brief he wrote during his time as solicitor general of Texas.

The ban on sex toy sales supported by Cruz hinged on the comparison to polygamy and prostitution, which would have put the sex toy ban under his purview as solicitor general – Ted Cruz deliberately, reports Slate, avoided any mention of privacy in order to avoid any kind of entanglement with the 14^th Amendment, under which the Cruz-backed sex toy ban would be unconstitutional. Instead, Cruz and his team, fought vigorously for a sex toy ban on the grounds that the sale of ‘dildos’ and ‘obscene-devices’ degraded public morals.

“It is undoubtedly true that some individuals and couples – perhaps even some married couples – believe that hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy would enhance their sexual experiences,” reads a Ted Cruz filing in support of the Texas sex toy ban.

Ted Cruz has been branded a hypocrite for defending Texas' dildo banhttps://t.co/eiXOpF1vIa pic.twitter.com/ojsAyiVzKx

— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) April 13, 2016

The state of Texas had, claimed Cruz, an interest in “preserving public morals” which would allow state government to regulate and ban the sale of “obscene devices” which could be used to “stimulate one’s genitals.” A federal court sided against Cruz, and the state-wide ban on ‘dildos’ and ‘sex toys’, claiming that such a ban would place an undue burden on an individual’s right to privacy.

Still, Ted Cruz argued passionately against the 14^th Amendment concerns by stating in his briefs on the sex toy ban, that such a ban would be well within a state’s right to preserve “public morals.” The federal court disagreed and in their decision, stated that individuals possess a right to be free from governmental intrusion into “the most private human contact, sexual behavior,” The Guardian reports.

“An individual who wants to legally use a safe sexual device during private intimate moments alone or with another is unable to legally purchase a device in Texas, which heavily burdens a constitutional right,” wrote the fifth circuit court of appeals, ruling against Ted Cruz and the sex toy ban he supported, reports The Guardian.

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]