Texas AG Ken Paxton Jumpstarts Pride by Suing City Over Planned LGBTQ+ Swim Eventhttps://www.them.us/story/ken-paxton-big-gay-swim-day-lgbtq-lawsuit 🔗Samantha Allen (1 June 2026)
Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General and a Republican Senate candidate, announced Monday that the state is suing the city of Denton over a transgender-inclusive swimming event organized by local LGBTQ+ charities that has yet to occur.
The lawsuit, filed in Denton County District Court, alleges that the organizers of the event, scheduled to be held at a local community 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," said Paxton in a statement accompanying the lawsuit that pointedly misgenders transgender women. "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 event — co-organized by PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton and scheduled for June 7 — violates the state's anti-trans bathroom law, which went into effect in September 2025. Per the Texas Tribune, the law requires that multiple-occupancy bathrooms, showers, and changing rooms be divided based on assigned sex at birth, with complaints handled by the AG's office after a resident witnesses a violation and submits written notice.
