Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Anti-Trans ‘Bathroom Bill’ into Law
Law requires government buildings to separate facilities -- including bathrooms, locker rooms, and sleeping quarters -- based on birth sex.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a bill requiring transgender Texans to use bathrooms and other facilities in public buildings that match their assigned sex at birth.
The Republican-backed law, passed largely along party lines, applies to government-owned buildings, including public schools and universities. In addition to bathrooms, it mandates sex-segregated locker rooms, changing rooms, and shower rooms, which the law defines as “multi-occupancy private spaces.”
Exceptions apply to parents, guardians, and caretakers of the opposite sex, as well as law enforcement, emergency responders, and custodial staff entering for official purposes, reports The Hill.
Set to take effect on December 4, the law directs the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to house inmates in single-sex dormitories based on their assigned sex at birth.
The law also restricts family violence shelters to serving individuals whose birth sex is female, or minors under 17 who are the children of a woman receiving services. Those assigned male at birth are barred from shelters — even if they are victims of domestic violence.
Before passage, Republican lawmakers added an amendment increasing fines on state agencies or local governments that allow transgender people to use bathrooms inconsistent with their assigned sex at birth. Penalties jumped from $5,000 to $25,000 for initial offenses, and up to $125,000 per day for repeat violations.
Under that section of the law, residents who want to file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General must first notify the agency or subdivision and allow three business days to address the violation. If the attorney general launches an investigation, localities and state agencies then have 15 days to prove compliance. Those that fail can be fined and sued by private citizens who claim they were “harmed” by being forced to share spaces with transgender individuals.
The amendment passed along party lines in both chambers.
Abbott bragged of signing the bill in a post on X, calling the ban “a common sense public safety issue.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas denounced the law as “unconscionable and unconstitutional.”
“Texans, including the transgender community, should be able to safely use public facilities that align with our gender identities as a basic matter of respect, safety, and privacy,” the group said in a news release.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ-related laws, Texas is one of seven states that ban transgender people from bathrooms in all government-owned buildings. Eight other states impose bans in schools and some government buildings, while five restrict bathrooms in K-12 schools — though some Virginia school systems have declined to enforce those rules. Four additional states allow certain private institutions, such as shelters or colleges, to set their own restrictions.
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