Texas city sued over all-ages 'Big Gay Swim' event with plans for 'gender neutral' changing rooms

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday against the city of Denton and its officials, accusing them of allowing “gender-neutral” changing rooms at a publicly owned swimming pool for an upcoming all-ages LGBT pride event.

The lawsuit filed May 28 in Denton County District Court targets the city’s handling of “Big Gay Swim Day,” the fourth annual swim party hosted by nonprofit organizations PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton on June 7 at the Quakertown Civic Center Pool. The event, open to all ages with required registration, was advertised with plans for gender-neutral changing rooms before organizers removed that language.

Paxton’s office announced the suit on Monday, stating it aims to prevent “grown men in changing rooms with Texas children and women at events hosted at publicly owned” facilities.

The Texas Women’s Privacy Act, or Senate Bill 8, passed last year, mandates that private spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms in public facilities be segregated by biological sex. SB8 requires political subdivisions, including cities, to take “every reasonable step” to ensure individuals of the opposite sex do not enter spaces designated for the other sex.

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