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Caroline Cruz: LGBTQ Nation slammed after 'outing' Ted Cruz’s 13-year-old daughter

LGBTQ Nation faced backlash from across the political aisle for reporting on the 'coming out' of Caroline Cruz

An LGBTQ media outlet has sparked outrage after it promoted a story about Texas Senator Ted Cruz's 13-year-old daughter coming out as bisexual.

The Republican firebrand is no stranger to controversy. He was mocked last year for his Cancun trip during the pandemic and has regularly engaged in spats with rival lawmakers on social media. This week, however, his daughter Caroline was cast into the spotlight after she appeared to take aim at her father's conservative politics in a TikTok video. LGBTQNation.com picked up the video and promoted the story, posting a link on Twitter with the caption 'Ted Cruz's teen daughter comes out as bisexual', implying that Caroline had suggested that fact in her post.

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As mentioned, Caroline Cruz is just 13 years old. Nonetheless, the media outlet went on to report that "after the video went viral, users noticed that she also included her pronouns and described herself as 'bi' in the profile." The outlet added, "A screenshot of a comment thread shows someone asking if her bisexuality 'is something he [Ted Cruz] knows' if she was comfortable talking about the subject," adding, "I haven’t told him yet, I'm kinda nervous tbh but I don't think he would be mad about it.'"

LGBTQ Nation faced backlash from across the political aisle for reporting on the "coming out" of a 13-year-old child before she could formally go public in disclosing her sexuality. "Ted Cruz's daughter is 13 years old. This is the exploitation of a minor and disgusting ethical malpractice on the part of the media. Stop this. Leave her alone," conservative commentator Meghan McCain tweeted.

"She's 13, barely out of her tween years. You despicable perverts," columnist Sohrab Ahmari wrote. "This is disgusting. This article could damage Caroline’s wellbeing & could get her into serious matters at school. She’s 13 you jerks! Almost all 13-year-old girls disagree with Dad. Delete this immediately. You are pathetic @lgbtqnation," Republican leader Kimberly Klacik added.

"The same people who said stories on Obama's college-aged daughter were off-limits now have no problem reporting on Ted Cruz's 13-year-old daughter," The Daily Wire reporter Cabot Philips chimed in.

"I wish journalists would observe the time-honored tradition of leaving politicians' children out of the mix, no matter how much those children may try to push in," Susan Campbell, a lecturer at the University of New Haven, told Forbes. "Look at the result of all the attention on Claudia Conway," she continued. "I understand the desire to focus on children who don't agree with their parent's politics – in the case of Ms. Cruz and her father – but is it entirely fair to dog a 13-year old?"

Forbes noted that the tweet from LGBTQ Nation could also be described fairly "as being little more than clickbait." Campbell explained, "I am bothered that news outlets are running with a story about her orientation. Is it true? I don't see a lot of good sources for it. Does it matter if it's true? No. Not really, but let a 13-year old have her privacy," she added.