Texas virulently anti-trans attorney general, Ken Paxton (R), has launched a tip line that allows people to report on suspected trans people they believe are violating the states new bathroom ban.In a statement announcing the tip line, Paxton said the Texas Womens Privacy Act which requires people in public buildings to use bathrooms based on sex assigned at birth was passed to ensure that women and girls in Texas are protected from mentally ill men wanting to violate their basic right to privacy. Related Trans youth & families sue hospitals for denying them care: Theyre living through a nightmare Its absolute insanity that action like this is even needed, he claimed, but unfortunately, in the day and age of radical leftism, it is. In reality, research has shown no evidence that allowing trans women access to single-sex spaces like bathrooms poses a safety risk to cisgender women. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today In fact, forcing trans people to use facilities that do not align with their gender identity can result in high rates of harassment and violence against transgender people as well as cisgender people, particularly women who do not conform to traditional ideas of femininity, according to theMovement Advancement Project. A 2021 study from UCLAs Williams Institute found that trans people arefour times more likely than cis peopleto be victims of violent crime.Nevertheless, the enactment of the legislation marks the culmination of a10-year effort by Texas Republicans. The law does not allow an individual to be punished or fined by the state; rather, it fines the institution that allowed the infraction $25,000, plus an additional $125,000 per day for additional violations. The law also requires the attorney generals office to investigate complaints, but first, complaints must be filed with the accused agency. Together, we will uproot and bring justice to any state agency or political subdivision that opens the door for men to violate womens privacy, dignity, and safety, Paxton said.Paxtons tip line requires folks to submit the original complaint that was filed with the accused agency in addition to filling out the online form and providing evidence that a trans person used the restroom. Perhaps most concerning, it also includes an option to submit up to five photos, even though taking pictures in restrooms is illegal.Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the tip line wrongly encourages Texans to violate each others privacy in bathrooms. The Attorney General has tried for years to vilify and dehumanize transgender Texans, Klosterboer said, but he cant strip away every persons right to privacy and right to live our lives free from gender stereotyping.Critics of the law have worried that it will spark violent over-policing by the institutions at risk of these massive fines. This policing will affect both trans and cis people who dont fit strict gender norms.The law has already been used in ways that lawmakers may not have intended. Students at the University ofTexasSan Antonio (UTSA), for example, are being forced out of their current dorm rooms and made to relocate because of the ban. At UTSA, mixed-gender dorms include pairs of rooms separated by a shared bathroom; often, those rooms are occupied by people of different genders.Any students sharing a bathroom between their rooms with someone of a different sex assigned at birth are being forcibly rehoused to comply with the new law.On December 6, transgender protestors with a group called the 6W Project visited the Texas Capitol and attempted to use the restrooms that aligned with their gender identities to make a point about the lack of enforcement mechanisms in the law.At first,they easily enteredthe bathrooms of their choice, then proceeded to give speeches in the Capitol Rotunda,The Texas Tribunereported. But when they attempted to use the restrooms a second time, officers stopped them and asked to see their IDs. Officers claimed in a statement that the ID requests were voluntary, though those who did not show their IDs were barred from entering the bathroom. The officers did allow two trans women with female markers on their IDs to enter the womens restrooms. Officers also reportedly only guarded the womens restroom and not the mens.I think that the Texas government just established that they have no consistent enforceable standards for this law, protester Matilda Miller told theTexas Tribune.What we did was not radical, it was not profound, added 6W Project co-founder Ry Vazquez. People use the restroom every day in a public setting, and for it to become what it is now, where it is now an active threat to someone who is not prepared, is utterly abysmal.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.