Abbott Signs Texas Bathroom Bill into Law
New law restricts restroom access in schools and other public buildings.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed Senate Bill 8 into law, restricting restroom and locker room access in public buildings to the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate. The law, which takes effect December 4, will affect schools, universities, prisons, jails, and other government-owned facilities across Texas.
The legislation, commonly referred to as a “bathroom bill,” creates exceptions only for children under 10 accompanied by adults, along with custodians, law enforcement, and medical workers. Facilities that fail to enforce the law could face a $5,000 fine for a first violation and $125,000 for subsequent violations. Private citizens may also file complaints that can be investigated by the state attorney general’s office.
Abbott announced the signing in a video posted on X. In the clip, he said the bill would keep men out of women’s restrooms and called it “just common sense.”
Republican lawmakers and groups that supported SB 8 framed it as a measure to protect women and girls. “Women and girls should not be forced to sacrifice their privacy and safety in the name of promoting gender ideology,” Sara Beth Nolan, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement. “Allowing men to invade girls’ most intimate spaces — including locker rooms, sleeping areas, or restrooms — compromises their dignity.”
Opponents of the bill argue it is a discriminatory solution to a problem that does not exist. During debate in the regular session, Democratic lawmakers asked sponsors of the proposal to provide examples of transgender women in Texas entering bathrooms to harm cisgender women or girls. No examples were given.
Elva Mendoza with the Texas Freedom Network called the bill “gross” and criticized its reliance on narrow definitions of sex. “It uses a definition [of biological sex] that is very black and white and doesn’t reflect the actual biology of many people,” Mendoza told The Texas Newsroom. “Not all women have ovaries, not all women have a uterus.”
Jonathan Gooch, communications director for Equality Texas, raised alarms about how the bill might be enforced. “It’s going to require extreme invasions into the privacy of Texans who don’t look like culturally accepted gender stereotypes,” he said. “They [Texas lawmakers] left enforcement very vague. There’s a wide range of possibilities open to cities and government agencies across the state, which could include cameras or security guards. Who knows what it will look like, but it’s something that all Texans should be alarmed about.”
Ash Hall, policy and advocacy strategist with the ACLU of Texas, called the law discriminatory and said it was designed to push transgender, intersex, and non-binary people “out of public life.” Hall added, “The bill encourages gender policing, which is where basically a complete stranger takes a look at you and decides internally whether or not you belong in a sex segregated space and harasses you about it.”
Texas now joins nearly 20 other states that have passed laws restricting bathroom access for transgender people. Many of those laws are facing legal challenges, including one in South Carolina that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Similar challenges in Texas could delay SB 8’s implementation.
