Texas AG Paxton Sues Swimming Organization for Allowing Transgender Athletes to Compete

On Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued an adult swimming organization that allowed so-called “transgender athletes” to compete against women.

The incident occurred at a swim competition in San Antonio in April, long after President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating that men and women compete on teams that align with their biological sex instead of their “gender identity.”

Additionally, Texas has laws on the books prohibiting “trans women” from competing with women (via The Hill):

Paxton’s lawsuit against U.S. Masters Swimming, a national membership-based nonprofit for adults of varying skill levels, follows an investigation into the organization he announced in May to determine whether it violated Texas’s consumer protection laws by permitting transgender women to participate in events marketed as women’s sporting events.
In July, under pressure from Paxton and public calls for the organization to ban trans women from competing, U.S. Masters Swimming implemented new interim eligibility rules that authorize swimmers to participate in events that best align with their gender identity but do not allow trans women to win competitive awards or titles, score points or be ranked in the women’s category.

“As a result of the public pressure that came from that event and an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxton, U.S. Masters Swimming subsequently revised its transgender participation policy to (1) prevent men from receiving recognition for their participation in women’s events, and (2) require women to acknowledge the participation of transgender athletes before they can sign-up for memberships and events. The new policy does not, however, prevent biological men from competing in women’s events,” Paxton wrote in the lawsuit.