After decades of pushing an anti-trans bathroom bill, in December 2025, Texas successfully passed Senate Bill 8 (SB 8). The Texas Women’s Privacy Act, or “bathroom bill,” as it is more commonly known, restricts transgender, intersex and non-binary people from using government facilities that align with their gender identity.
The law only applies to government buildings such as restrooms or locker rooms of public schools, public universities, or open-enrollment charter schools. State agencies such as family or domestic violence shelters, jails and prisons must follow this law and house people based on their sex assigned at birth.
If a state agency or government business has unisex restrooms, they are not impacted by this law. Privately owned businesses are also not impacted by this law.
To support trans and non-binary residents, the Austin City Council voted to replace multiple-occupancy restrooms with single-person restrooms.
SB 8 Does Not Make Anyone Feel Safe
Kendall Reyes Muñoz, a trans Latina who is a mentee of Under the Umbrella RGV, said supporters of SB 8 call it “privacy” when it is “about exclusion.”
“This law doesn’t make anyone safer,” she said. “All it does is give people an excuse to ‘police’ how women look. If you don’t look ‘feminine enough’ to someone, they can cause trouble for you.”
The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) holds strong community values, and SB 8 threatens that, Reyes Muñoz said.
“In the RGV, we are all about family and looking out for our neighbors,” she said. “This law feels like a slap in the face. It tells us that we aren’t welcome in our own schools, libraries or local government buildings. It turns a simple trip to the bathroom into a moment of fear. It makes me feel like I have a target on my back just for trying to live my life.”
While state agencies and political subdivisions have been directed to “take every reasonable step to ensure an individual of one sex does not enter the private space of the opposite sex,” the law does not provide any guidance or resources on how they must enact this law.
Previously, the Texas legislature had unsuccessfully tried to pass similar bills in 2017 and in 2023. Federal courts have previously ruled that bathroom bans like SB 8 violate people’s fundamental right to equal treatment.
Bill supporters claim SB 8 will make women feel safer, but Reyes Muñoz wants people to know the truth: “I am a woman. My privacy matters too. This [bill] tries to trick people into thinking trans women are a threat, when really, we are the ones who get harassed. It’s a way to scare people and win votes by picking on a small group of us.”
SB 8 Violation Fines and “Complaint Forms”
Individuals who use public facilities that do not align with their sex given at birth will not be penalized. It would be the state agency or business that would pay a $25,000 fine for the first instance of violating SB 8. Afterwards, the fine increases to $125,000 per day for each violation.
In a previous version of the bill, the fines were originally set at $5,000 and $25,000.
People who feel a state agency or political subdivision are violating SB 8 can report via a complaint form on the Office of the Attorney General’s website. However, they must first submit a written notice to the state agency or subdivision. According to the statute, the agency then has three business days to “cure the violation.”
Similar complaint forms have experienced opponents overwhelmingly spamming with memes, such as with 2021’s SB 8 bounty-hunter abortion ban and Missouri’s 2023 site for reporting clinics regarding gender-affirming care, which was taken down after people spammed the site with fanfiction and the “Bee Movie” script.
A Signed Paper Does Not Change Your Worth
For the RGV trans and gender non-conforming community, Reyes Muñoz recommends the following resources during this time: Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Under the Umbrella RGV and the Parents of Trans Youth organization.
“To my trans siblings, don’t let them make you feel small,” Reyes Muñoz said. “You have every right to be here. We have always been part of the Valley and Texas, and a piece of paper signed doesn’t change your worth. Stay safe, stay proud, and lean on your friends.”
