Texas AG Ken Paxton Jumpstarts Pleasure by Suing City Over Deliberate LGBTQ+ Swim Occasion

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Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General and a Republican Senate candidate, introduced Monday that the state is suing the town of Denton over a transgender-inclusive swimming occasion organized by native LGBTQ+ charities that has but to happen.

The lawsuit, filed in Denton County District Court, alleges that the organizers of the occasion, scheduled to be held at a area people pool, “plan to convert the City’s lawful, sex-separated changing rooms into unlawful ‘gender neutral changing rooms.’”

“Cities cannot disregard Texas law by allowing men to change with young kids in spaces designated for women,” stated Paxton in an announcement accompanying the lawsuit that pointedly misgenders transgender ladies. “The City of Denton had an opportunity to prevent this violation and chose to do nothing. That dereliction of duty will not stand, and I will ensure that Texas cities follow our state’s laws to protect women and children from men invading their spaces.”

According to Paxton, the Big Gay Swim Day occasion — co-organized by PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton and scheduled for June 7 — violates the state’s anti-trans lavatory regulation, which went into impact in September 2025. Per the Texas Tribune, the regulation requires that multiple-occupancy bogs, showers, and altering rooms be divided primarily based on assigned intercourse at beginning, with complaints dealt with by the AG’s workplace after a resident witnesses a violation and submits written discover.

The two LGBTQ+ teams had beforehand made the choice to not publish a public registration hyperlink for the occasion resulting from right-wing consideration, per a joint Instagram post issued final week. Per a joint assertion supplied to Them by PRIDENTON and OUTreach, the teams referred to as the lawsuit “frivolous” and “a waste of taxpayers’ time and money.”

“As a community, we wholeheartedly condemn Paxton’s pervasive use of transphobic, dehumanizing, and false rhetoric in this attack on our community,” the assertion reads.

“Since 2022, Big Gay Swim Day has been a beautiful event where invited community members can swim, dance, and exist without fear of judgement or harassment,” the statement continues. “It is disappointing that bad actors have attempted to turn queer joy into political spectacle. Like any other resident or group, as local not-for-profit organizations, we have the right to reserve city facilities for private events.”

The lawsuit claims that the teams marketed that “gender neutral changing rooms” can be obtainable on the occasion, citing a PRIDENTON URL accessed on May 19, and together with a screenshot of the web site. As of this writing, that URL returns a 404 error. According to the assertion supplied by PRIDENTON and OUTreach, the eliminated all point out of the all-gender services when metropolis employees knowledgeable the organizations that they weren’t permitted to have all-gender bogs at city-owned services resulting from anti-trans lavatory regulation SB8 on May 21.

“We removed this language from all posts and advertisements about this year’s events, in compliance with these expectations, the statement reads.

“SB8 lacks steerage relating to its enforcement whereas assigning extreme penalties for perceived violations,” the statement continues. “Furthermore, this legislation gives license to harass and surveil any person who does not present or conform within the narrow limitations of an oppressive gender binary. Ken Paxton’s history of protecting predators instead of prioritizing the safety of children is well-documented and does not align with this lawsuit’s alleged motivation.”

The lawsuit claims that a Denton resident sent an email complaint to city leadership and received a “boilerplate response,” prompting the individual to file a complaint with the AG’s office. Paxton is seeking a temporary restraining order against the event as well as injunctive relief, including attorneys’ fees.