SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A new law went into effect in the Lone Star State that requires people using restrooms in publicly owned spaces to do so in one that matches their biological sex at birth. Senate Bill 8, also known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, went into effect on Thursday.
The legislation, also known as the “bathroom bill,” requires state correctional facilities, family violence shelters, state colleges and universities, state court houses, and government facilities to follow biological, sex-based guidance that governs who may use restrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities starting Thursday. The new law does not impact private establishments within the state.
The new law provides that unless a restroom is designated for single-person use or a family-designated bathroom, the public entity is responsible for ensuring people who enter and use a multi-person facility match the person’s assigned sex at birth.
Included in the law are exceptions for people providing emergency medical care to someone inside a public bathroom or facility, law enforcement response, custodial cleaning activities, maintenance or inspections of the facilities, or adults who accompany children under 9 years old into the facility.
The bill imposes civil penalties on any state agency that violates the legislation, including $5,000 for a first violation and $25,000 for a second or subsequent violation. Each day of a continuing violation of the new law constitutes a separate violation. The law requires the Texas Attorney General to investigate any complaints to determine if legal action is warranted.
The bill has received sharp criticism from several LGBTQ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. In September, shortly after passage of the legislation during an emergency session to address Texas’s deadly Independence Day flooding, the group criticized the bill as “Anti-Trans,” saying the bill was a blatant attack on the transgender community.
The group’s president, Kelly Robinson, commented on HRC’s stance on the bill, saying, “Everyone deserves to be safe in the most private of spaces, but this latest attack from anti-equality lawmakers will put all Texans at risk. It represents a dangerous government overreach and is impossible to enforce without exposing people to humiliating inspections and questioning. For transgender Texans in particular, this will make it that much harder to go about their daily lives without fear of violence or harassment.”
One Texas State lawmaker, Representative Ana Maria Rodriguez-Ramos, described the bill as a “cruel law that aims to make the lives of transgender Texans even more difficult than they already are,” in a social media post just hours after the bill took effect.
Texas is now one of 19 states that restrict bathroom use by law or policy in some public facilities and/or public schools based on biological sex at birth.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X @RandyClarkBBTX.
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