Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the City of Denton to stop a June 7 Pride-themed pool event, arguing it would violate the state’s Texas Women’s Privacy Act. Denton officials and the event’s organizers say the rental is private and that the city took
For days leading up to June 7. Denton’s Quakertown Civic Center has been preparing for a Pride pool party marketed as “Big Gay Swim Day.” Then Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton moved to halt it—targeting the way changing rooms would be handled at the city-owned facility and asking a court to block what his office calls an unlawful event.
Paxton announced that his office has sued the City of Denton over the planned Pride pool event. which is scheduled for June 7 and organized by PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton. The lawsuit asks for temporary and permanent injunctive relief barring the city from permitting future violations of the Texas Women’s Privacy Act at its facilities.
In the lawsuit, Paxton’s office alleges that organizers plan to convert sex-segregated changing rooms at the Quakertown Civic Center into “gender-neutral” spaces.
The legal fight centers on Texas’s bathroom law—Senate Bill 8, also known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act. Under the law, publicly owned “private spaces” must be designated based on biological sex. The law also requires cities to take “every reasonable step” to ensure that individuals of the opposite sex do not enter spaces designated for the other sex.
Senate Bill 8 was authored by state Sen. Mayes Middleton, who is the Republican candidate for Texas attorney general, in late 2025. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott and became effective Dec. 4, 2025.
Paxton’s office argues that a gender-neutral changing room that accommodates multiple occupants at once is expressly prohibited by law. Violations under SB 8 carry a $25,000 penalty for a first offense and up to $125,000 for subsequent violations.
“The lawsuit seeks to prevent the unlawful event from proceeding as planned on June 7. ” Paxton’s office said in a news release. Paxton also said in a statement that cities cannot disregard Texas law by allowing men to change with young kids in spaces designated for women. and he warned that his office will ensure Texas cities follow state law.
Paxton’s office said it sent Denton officials a written notice of the planned violation on May 19.
Denton, for its part, disputes the core premise of the complaint. Kayla Herrod, Denton’s interim director of marketing and communications, said in a statement that the upcoming rental is private and not sponsored by the city.
“The City of Denton is aware of the lawsuit filed by the Texas Office of the Attorney General,” Herrod said. “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.”.
Herrod added that the city intends to respond to the attorney general’s office “to reaffirm that the appropriate steps have been taken to ensure the changing rooms at the Civic Center Pool comply with state law.”
A May 21 email from Herrod—included as an exhibit in Paxton’s lawsuit—shows the city’s position predates the filing. In the email. Herrod told the complainant that the rental policy requires renters to keep “all existing City signage. including restroom signage. visible and unobstructed. ” and that “temporary. covered. or altered signage is not permitted in accordance with the law.”.
The event’s organizers rejected Paxton’s move as well. In a joint statement on social media, both sponsoring organizations—PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton—called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “a waste of taxpayers’ time and money.”
The statement says Denton city staff informed PRIDENTON on May 21 that it was not permitted to have all-gender bathrooms at city facilities as a result of SB 8. It also says the organizations removed language from posts and advertisements about this year’s events in compliance with those expectations.
The statement further says that SB 8 “lacks guidance regarding its enforcement while assigning severe penalties for perceived violations.” It adds that “Big Gay Swim Day” has been around since 2022 and is an event where invited community members can swim. dance. and exist “without fear of judgment or harassment.”.
“As a community, we wholeheartedly condemn Paxton’s pervasive use of transphobic, dehumanizing, and false rhetoric in this attack on our community,” the statement said. “We look forward to celebrating and affirming Texans of all gender identities.”
June marks LGBTQ+ Pride Month in the United States. and the lawsuit lands as Denton prepares for an event that supporters describe as a celebration and organizers’ community space. Paxton’s office. meanwhile. is asking the courts to stop the June 7 event and to keep Denton from allowing future violations of SB 8 at its facilities.
The case turns on a single, fast-moving question: whether what the city permitted in connection with the rental amounts to a prohibited arrangement under the Texas Women’s Privacy Act—despite Denton’s position that the rental is private and that staff acted in advance to require compliance.
Texas Women’s Privacy Act Senate Bill 8 Ken Paxton City of Denton PRIDENTON OUTreach Denton Big Gay Swim Day Quakertown Civic Center LGBTQ+ Pride Month Texas AG lawsuit