LGBTQ+ advocates are bracing for a rise in harassment after Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed a law effectively barring transgender people from using restrooms in government-owned buildings and facilities.
Republican-backed Senate Bill 8, which goes into effect Dec. 4, limits people’s use of bathrooms in government buildings, universities and public schools to the ones matching the sex they were assigned at birth. It also imposes stiff fines on any institution that doesn’t enforce the rule — $25,000 for a first offense and $125,000 for each thereafter.
Beyond the inconvenience and embarrassment the law creates for trans people, Johnathan Gooch, communication director for LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas, worries the state will experience “over-compliance” as people interpret the law more broadly than it’s written.
“Even though this law applies to government buildings, there’s concern that transgender people trying to use the bathroom in other types of spaces — a coffee shop, a bar — might face increased harassment, or that private businesses might try to enforce their own anti-trans bathroom policies,” Gooch said. “The harm to the community even within government buildings is extreme, but there’s a real concern that it may ripple out beyond that.”
Transgender people already face harassment when they try to use public restrooms, he said, adding that the state law is likely to worsen the situation as people with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments become bathroom vigilantes.
A 2013 study by UCLA School of Law’s Williams Center found that 70% of trans and non-gender conforming people reported being denied access, verbally harassed or physically assaulted when they have tried to use public restrooms.
Bathroom bans in other states have also had the unintended effect of subjecting cisgender women to harassment by self-appointed bathroom monitors, said Joelle Espeut, advocacy director the Normal Anomaly Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for marginalized communities.
“What we’re seeing is this doesn’t just impact trans people, it impacts all women,” Espeut “Anyone can be questioned to show they’re not trans. From what we’ve seen in other states, women have even been asked to show off their body parts or come up with a birth certificate.”
At least 19 other states have passed legislation banning trans people from public restrooms, according to the Texas Tribune.
The Texas bathroom bill also forbids prisons and jails from making housing exceptions for transgender inmates. Further, it bars trans people who were assigned male at birth from accessing women’s domestic violence shelters.
“This bill not only further stigmatizes trans people, it also prevents them from seeking essential services like domestic violence shelters,” Gooch said. “And we know that trans people experience domestic violence at higher rates than cisgender women. They need spaces to be safe.”
Under the guidance of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Texas Senate has passed six separate bathroom bills since 2017, but each has stalled in the Texas House. This year’s session is the first time one of the proposals passed both GOP-controlled houses and ended up on the governor’s desk.
Gooch said he worries SB 8’s passage will embolden right-wing lawmakers to roll out even more punishing proposals targeting trans Texans — and in even larger volumes.
During the 2021 session, Equality Texas counted more than 70 bills in the state legislature that sought to strip rights from LGBTQ+ Texans. That number doubled in 2023, then exploded to more than 200 in this year’s session.
“We’re definitely seeing an escalation carried out in the legislative space,” Gooch said. “I fear we can expect to see more of that unless Texans turn up to vote and say, ‘This isn’t what we stand for.'”
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