Texas' so-called "bathroom bill" officially takes effect this week. Starting Thursday, Dec. 4, the controversial new law restricts access to restrooms and locker rooms based on the user's biological sex at birth.
The measure, Senate Bill 8, only applies to publicly owned buildings like libraries, government facilities, public schools and prisons. Private businesses can choose their own bathroom policies.
When Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure earlier this year, he called it "common sense," adding that it would allow "no men in women's restrooms."
Opponents say the new law, also referred to as the "Women's Privacy Act" by supporters, is actually a thinly veiled attack on transgender Texans.
"It's a discriminatory bill. It's designed to push transgender intersex and non-binary people out of public life," said Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist with the ACLU of Texas.
Nearly 20 other states have recently enacted some level of restrictions on restroom access for transgender people. Several of those cases are currently tied up in court. That includes a South Carolina law linking public school funding to bathroom restrictions — something the state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.
It's still unclear how the new Texas law will be implemented and Hall told The Texas Newsroom a lawsuit "is not off the table."
The 'bathroom bills' road to passage
Texas Republicans first made bathroom access a major legislative issue in 2017 when they tried to pass a similar measure, but the proposal failed after pushback from business groups and law enforcement officials.
The issue, however, was reignited earlier this year. During Texas' second special session, a coalition of Republicans in the Texas Senate signed on to a new proposal, Senate Bill 8.
Both advocacy groups and liberal lawmakers fought heavily against it at the Texas Capitol, where Democrats claimed Republicans were trying to solve a problem that didn't exist.
"It's been eight years since we banished this perverse bathroom bill and there have been zero crimes committed in the state of Texas that this bill would seek to remedy," Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, said.
But Republicans, who control both the Texas House and Senate, pushed back.
"Why do we have to wait for someone to commit a crime — or for someone to be harmed — before we take action to keep women in women's spaces and men in men's?" said Rep. Hillary Hickland, a Belton Republican.
Ultimately, the bill passed and landed on Gov. Abbott's desk in September.
A question of enforcement
Now, LGBTQ+ advocates and individuals are concerned about how the new law will work in practice.
"They left enforcement very vague," said Jonathan Gooch with the advocacy group Equality Texas, adding that Texas lawmakers didn't "clarify where the boundaries were."
That also ambiguity concerns Ash Hall of the Texas ACLU.
"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," Hall said.
Dallas Democratic Rep. Jessica Gonzalez worries that people will be "targeted" because of their appearance.
"This happens all the time," Gonzalez said. "Especially to women who are taller, short hair, or anyone who doesn't fit the mold of what society or that person feels they should look like."
While the measure was still being debated, Gonzalez proposed an amendment that would "hold the harassers accountable" but it failed.
The bill language defines a female as "an individual who naturally has or will have, or had or would have but for a congenital anomaly or an intentional or unintentional disruption, a reproductive system designed to produce, transport, and provide eggs for fertilization."
"It's basically based on body parts. Even though not all women have ovaries. Not all women have a uterus," said Elva Mendoza of the Texas Freedom Network.
Copyright 2025 KUT News