Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz has said that "Many liberal males never grow balls" in response to reports that Daily Show comedian Trevor Noah is "offended" by gender reveal parties.
In his Tuesday monologue for his comedic news program, Noah referred to gender reveal parties as outdated and dangerous, citing one party's role in causing a massive El Dorado, California wildfire that has already destroyed more than 10,000 acres.
"At this point, 'gender reveal party' is now one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations," Noah joked. "It's ISIS, al-Qaeda, Taylor Swift fans and gender reveal parties."
"Aside from all the damage it can cause, celebrating a baby's genitalia is starting to feel very outdated," Noah continued. "Given everything we're learning about gender, gender reveal parties should only happen when the child is old enough to know their actual gender—and to pitch in some cash for the fire damage."
Noah's comments distinguish between a child's biological sex, body parts appraised by doctors and parents as either male or female, and a child's gender identity, their own personal perception of their particular gender.
Medical and psychological research has shown that children as young as 3 to 5 can develop gender identities different from the biological sex assigned to them at birth, a condition called "gender dysphoria." Some children with gender dysphoria grow up to become transgender, a person whose gender identity doesn't correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth.
A headline on the conservative website The Daily Caller characterized Noah as being "offended" by gender reveal parties. The website's article disparagingly referred to Noah's comments about childhood gender identity as "Woke knowledge," "woke" being an adjective for "aware of societal injustice" which some conservatives mock as overly sensitive or unrealistically idealist.
On Friday, Cruz linked to the website's story about Noah's comments and wrote in a tweet, "A fair point. Many liberal males never grow balls...."
By using the idiom "to grow balls," Cruz implies that a majority of liberal men never "man-up and respond maturely to a given situation or problem," as the Collins Dictionary defines the idiom.
Hours after Cruz made his post, the hashtag #TedCruzHasNoBalls began trending on Twitter, criticizing Cruz for supporting Republican President Donald Trump even though Trump called Cruz a "do-nothing liar" and Cruz's wife "ugly" during the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
Cruz has repeatedly spoken out against transitional medical treatment for trans children, calling it "child abuse."
However, a 2015 study by The Endocrine Society showed that recognizing and treating gender dysphoria lessens mental health problems, such as suicidal ideation, in more than 75 percent of trans youth.
Newsweek contacted Cruz for comment.
