Texas Women Are Finally Being Protected!

As of December 4, the Texas Women's Privacy Act, Texas Senate Bill 8 by Senator Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), officially goes into effect across our state. For years, Texans have argued that public facilities such as restrooms, locker rooms, showers, shelters, and prisons should respect natural distinctions between men and women. This law represents a milestone in protecting those distinctions and restoring privacy and safety for women and girls in Texas.

Why This Law Matters:

• The Act requires multi-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, showers, changing rooms, and similar facilities in public buildings, including schools, state buildings, prisons, and shelters, be separated according to biological sex.

• For decades, this basic principle of single-sex privacy has been under pressure, and previous legislative efforts repeatedly failed.

• The new law sends a clear, statewide message: women and girls deserve to feel safe and have dignity when using restrooms, locker rooms, showers, or shelters, without fear of those spaces being compromised.

What the Law Does In Practical Terms

Under the Women’s Privacy Act:

• State agencies, public schools (K–12), public universities, correctional facilities, and domestic-violence shelters must ensure multi-occupancy facilities (restrooms, locker rooms, showers, changing rooms) remain sex-segregated by biological sex.

• Facilities may still provide single-person restrooms or “family restrooms” that anyone can use.

• Institutions that fail to comply are subject to civil penalties - fines of $25,000 for the first violation and up to $125,000 for subsequent violations.

A Victory for Common Sense, Safety, and Respect

For many Texas families, this law is more than a policy change. It’s a reaffirmation that public institutions have a duty to protect privacy, dignity, and the safety of women and girls.

The passage of the Women’s Privacy Act closes a loophole that allowed identity ideology to challenge long-established norms about privacy in intimate spaces. It gives parents, students, and everyday men and women the confidence that public restrooms, locker rooms, and shelters are safe, secure, and designed with common-sense boundaries in mind.

Moreover, by enforcing these protections with real consequences, the law ensures districts, universities, state agencies, and shelters take their responsibility seriously to maintain secure and respectful facilities.

What Texas Families Should Do and Watch For:

• Hold public institutions accountable. School boards, university administrations, and local governments must implement the Act’s requirements immediately, ensuring restrooms and locker rooms are clearly designated, and they must enforce compliance.

• Encourage community vigilance. Parents, church groups, and civic organizations should stay alert and speak up if they see policies or practices that violate the spirit or letter of the law.

A Broader Stand for Decency

In a time when societal norms are shifting rapidly, the Texas Women’s Privacy Act marks a stand: Texas will protect the private spaces of women and girls and honor biological truth.