Texas AG Ken Paxton jumpstarts Pride by suing city over planned LGBTQ+ swim event

This story originally appeared on Them.

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.

The two LGBTQ+ groups had previously made the decision not to post a public registration link for the event due to right-wing attention, per a joint Instagram post issued last week. Per a joint statement provided to Them by PRIDENTON and OUTreach, the groups called 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 statement 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 groups advertised that “gender neutral changing rooms” would be available at the event, citing a PRIDENTON URL accessed on May 19, and including a screenshot of the website. As of this writing, that URL returns a 404 error. According to the statement provided by PRIDENTON and OUTreach, the removed all mention of the all-gender facilities when city staff informed the organizations that they were not permitted to have all-gender bathrooms at city-owned facilities due to anti-trans bathroom law 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 guidance regarding its enforcement while assigning severe 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.

Notably, the nonprofits who co-organized Big Gay Swim Day operate with small budgets: According to ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer tool, PRIDENTON posted a revenue of only $17.6 thousand dollars in 2022.

Paxton’s lawsuit coincides not just with the first day of Pride, but also with his first full month as a Republican Senate candidate in Texas, running against Democrat James Talarico. The GOP has launched a full-court press against Talarico, who leads Paxton in initial post-runoff polling, over his support of trans rights, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller calling him the Democratic Party’s “first transgender senate candidate.”

The lawsuit is just the latest anti-trans offensive from Paxton, who has frequently used the authority of his office to target the community. In May, his office announced that Texas Children’s Hospital had reached a $10 million settlement with the state over the provision of gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth that also required the creation of a “detransition clinic.” In February, Paxton sued a New York-based clothing company over its sale of binders, accusing the retailer of false advertising.

Additional reporting contributed by Quispe López.

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