Texas Launches Complaint Form To Report Trans Women Using Bathrooms

December 19, 2025 Margaret Hetherman

Texas residents urged to surveil bathroom usage – with option to submit photos (though taking photos in bathrooms is illegal).

Featured Image: photo by Reg Speller, via Getty Images

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has invited the public to report highly suspicious activity. Theft? Murder? Mayhem? No, the AG wants you to report trans women using women’s bathrooms. The state is requesting the help of common citizens in enforcing Senate Bill 8 (a.k.a. the “bathroom bill”) via an online form, essentially a tip line, for suspected violations of a new law that restricts which facilities transgender people can access.

The Texas Women’s Privacy Act (Senate Bill 8) went into effect on Dec. 4, and requires government buildings, correctional facilities and educational institutions to restrict access to restrooms and locker rooms based on sex assigned at birth. Institutions, versus individuals will be held accountable and fined.

If someone enters the ‘wrong’ bathroom (bathroom provided for “use of individuals of the sex opposite to the individual’s sex”), institutions, not the individual, are punished by the state, with $25,000 first-time fines and $125,000 for second or subsequent violations. Individuals can also sue agencies if they are in a restroom and are “affected” by a violation of the law.

If you’re there to fix something, inspect something, assist someone on the toilet, arrest someone, or medically save someone’s life, then this bill does not apply to you. Also, children age nine or under may use any bathroom that aligns with their gender if accompanied by an adult.

Image: portion of form to report trans women

If there’s any confusion as to how Texas sees “females” in this bill, the language is clarified up front:

“Female” means an individual who naturally has or will have, or had or would have but for a congenital anomaly or an intentional or unintentional disruption, a reproductive system designed to produce, transport, and provide eggs for fertilization.”

“Male” has parts “designed to produce, transport, and utilize sperm for fertilization.” The distinguishing variation in this language would be that the “female” would exist to “provide,” whereas the “male” would exist to “utilize.”

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Attorney General Paxton released a statement to accompany the new initiative: “The Texas Women’s Privacy Act was passed to ensure that women and girls in Texas are protected from mentally ill men wanting to violate their basic right to privacy in places like restrooms and locker rooms. It’s absolute insanity that action like this is even needed, but unfortunately in the day and age of radical leftism, it is.”

About 36% of LGBTQ adults in the U.S. live in the South, according to Equality Texas, which has been actively challenging what it sees as a “crusade designed to exclude transgender Texans from participation in public life.” The nonprofit is aligned with other advocacy groups that are greatly concerned about the safety and privacy of trans constituents. Ash Hall with the ACLU of Texas, has pointed out that “S.B. 8 will encourage ‘gender policing’ by bad actors who seek to harass or harm transgender people — or anyone who may not conform to stereotypical gender roles in public spaces.” It will also put people at risk who don’t seem masculine or feminine enough to a random stranger, including CIS girls and women.

The complaint form was launched on Wednesday; informants must also send a copy to the accused institution after which the governor’s office can investigate the complaint.

The form provides an option to submit photos when ratting out a trans woman. However, Texas law prohibits “prohibits a person from photographing or videotaping in areas like bathrooms, changing rooms, and areas where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.” So it’s not clear how snapping pics of trans women on toilets will be accomplished.