Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the City of Denton and several city officials over a planned LGBT “Pride” event at a city-owned swimming pool, alleging organizers intend to operate “gender-neutral” changing rooms in violation of Texas law.
The lawsuit, filed in Denton County district court, seeks a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief ahead of “Big Gay Swim Day,” an event scheduled for June 7 at the Quakertown Civic Center Pool.
According to court filings, the event is being organized by PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton and is advertised as open to “all ages.” The state alleges promotional materials for the event indicate that “gender-neutral changing rooms” will be available to attendees.
The Quakertown Civic Center is owned and operated by the City of Denton and includes multiple-occupancy men’s and women’s changing rooms.
Paxton argues that allowing those facilities to be used on a gender-neutral basis would violate the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, which was signed into law last year.
The law requires publicly owned multiple-occupancy private spaces—including changing rooms, locker rooms, restrooms, and shower facilities—to be designated based on biological sex. It also requires political subdivisions to take “every reasonable step” to ensure individuals do not enter facilities designated for the opposite sex.
The event has been held annually since 2023, but this is the first year it has been scheduled since the Texas Women’s Privacy Act took effect.
“Cities cannot disregard Texas law by allowing men to change with young kids in spaces designated for women,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “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.”
The lawsuit alleges Denton officials were notified on May 19 that event organizers planned to offer gender-neutral changing rooms but failed to take sufficient action to ensure compliance with state law.
Court filings also cite previous PRIDENTON events at the same facility where organizers advertised that sex-specific facilities would be converted to “all-use” or “gender-neutral” spaces for the duration of the event.
The state is asking a judge to prohibit the city from permitting the alleged violation and to bar future violations of the Women’s Privacy Act at city-owned facilities.
Denton officials disputed the attorney general’s characterization of the situation.
“Prior to any action by the Attorney General, staff proactively took all necessary measures to ensure full compliance with state law in advance of PRIDENTON’s rental of the Civic Center Pool on June 7, including informing the organizers that certain elements of their advertising conflicted with state law and advising them of the requirement to comply,” said Kayla Herrod, the city’s interim director of marketing and communications.
Herrod said the city intends to respond to the lawsuit and “reaffirm that the appropriate steps have been taken to ensure the changing rooms at the Civic Center Pool comply with state law.”
The city also noted that the event is a private rental and is not sponsored by Denton.
In a statement posted Monday, PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton called the lawsuit “frivolous” and said they had already removed references to all-gender bathrooms from event advertising after being contacted by city staff.
“On May 21, city staff informed PRIDENTON that we were not permitted to have all-gender bathrooms at city facilities as a result of SB8,” the organizations stated. “We removed this language from all posts and advertisements about this year’s events, in compliance with these expectations.”
The organizations argued the lawsuit was unnecessary because they had already complied with the city’s instructions regarding the event.
