After years of heated debate and failed attempts, Texas lawmakers have finally succeeded in passing a controversial “bathroom bill” that restricts bathroom use in government buildings, schools, and universities based on sex assigned at birth. The Texas Women’s Privacy Act, approved on September 5, 2025, imposes fines of up to $125,000 for violations—a strikingly high penalty that signals the state’s determination to enforce the new law. What’s even more remarkable, however, is the near-total absence of public or corporate backlash that once defined battles over similar legislation in other states.
The landscape today stands in stark contrast to the uproar of 2016, when North Carolina’s House Bill 2 sparked nationwide outrage. Back then, corporate giants like PayPal and Deutsche Bank canceled or paused major expansions in the state, and the National Basketball Association pulled its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte, costing North Carolina an estimated $100 million in lost revenue. The backlash was so intense that lawmakers partially repealed the bill the following year, bowing to lawsuits and mounting economic pressure, according to reporting by LGBTQ Nation and other outlets.
Texas itself faced a similar storm in 2017 when it tried to pass Senate Bill 6, a bill nearly identical to the one just enacted. Tech titans such as IBM, Amazon, Apple, Dell, and Microsoft led a coordinated campaign against the measure, warning that Texas would suffer the same fate as North Carolina if it pressed ahead. IBM even took out full-page ads in major Texas newspapers, and protestors filled the Capitol in Austin, making their voices heard. The pressure worked: then-House Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio, sided with business leaders and refused to let the bill advance, as detailed by The Dallas Morning News and San Antonio Express-News.
But in 2025, the silence from those same companies is deafening. There were no ads, no statements, and not even a tweet from the corporate heavyweights who once rallied against bathroom bills. When pressed for comment on their current stance, IBM did not respond. The Texas Senate had previously passed six different bathroom bills since 2017, only to see them die in the House session after session. Yet this time, the Texas Women’s Privacy Act sailed through, closing out a second overtime special session with little fanfare and even less resistance from the business community.
What changed? For one, public opinion has shifted significantly. In 2017, a Pew Research Center poll found that 54 percent of Americans believed gender is determined by sex assigned at birth. By 2022, that number had climbed to 60 percent. Support for bathroom and locker room bills also jumped by 12 percent between 2016 and 2021, reaching 47 percent in favor, according to a survey from the Public Religion Research Institute. These changing attitudes have emboldened lawmakers and left corporations wary of taking unpopular stances that could draw the ire of their customers—especially after high-profile controversies like those faced by Bud Light and Target in recent years.
Some observers argue that the debate over transgender rights has evolved far beyond the question of bathroom access. As noted in recent commentary, the issue has expanded into other sex-protected spaces such as prisons, women’s shelters, and school locker rooms, as well as into public arenas like sports and beauty pageants. The perceived threats that opponents of bathroom bills once warned about have not materialized to the extent feared, while new concerns about women’s safety and fairness in sports have taken center stage. “It’s now laughable to claim a bathroom bill is ‘discrimination’ when everyone knows it’s common sense,” one commentator wrote in The Dallas Morning News, reflecting a sentiment that has gained traction among conservatives.
Meanwhile, the legal battle over transgender rights in other states continues to unfold. On the same day that Texas passed its bathroom bill, transgender college student Lindsay Hecox informed the U.S. Supreme Court that she would no longer pursue her challenge to Idaho’s 2020 law banning transgender and intersex women and girls from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity. Hecox, who attends Boise State University, had initially won a preliminary injunction against the law in August 2020, with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the decision in August 2023. Idaho’s HB 500, signed by Republican Governor Brad Little, was the first law of its kind in the country.
But the personal toll of the legal fight weighed heavily on Hecox. In a declaration to the Court, she wrote, “From the beginning of this case, I have come under negative public scrutiny from certain quarters. I also have observed increased intolerance generally for people who are transgender and specifically for transgender women who participate in sports.” Hecox explained that she feared continued litigation would subject her to harassment and threaten her mental health, safety, and ability to graduate. Her attorneys echoed these concerns, noting that she had faced “significant challenges that have affected her both personally and academically,” including the loss of her father in 2022.
The Supreme Court, which granted certiorari in July 2025 to hear Hecox’s case, has not yet decided whether to grant her request to dismiss the appeal. Regardless of the outcome, the justices are expected to consider a separate case from West Virginia this term, one that also centers on whether states can bar transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. The decision in that case could have sweeping implications, potentially affecting similar restrictions in 27 states, according to LGBTQ Nation.
For advocates on both sides, the stakes remain high. Supporters of the Texas Women’s Privacy Act and similar laws argue that they are necessary to protect women’s safety and preserve fairness in sports and other sex-segregated spaces. Critics, however, warn that such measures further marginalize transgender and intersex individuals, exposing them to discrimination and harm. The muted response from corporate America this time around has left activists questioning whether the business community will continue to play a leading role in social justice battles, or if fear of backlash has finally tipped the scales in favor of legislative action.
As the debate rages on in courtrooms and statehouses across the country, the passage of Texas’ bathroom bill—and the retreat of high-profile legal challenges like Hecox’s—marks a pivotal moment in the nation’s ongoing struggle to balance privacy, safety, and civil rights. With the Supreme Court poised to weigh in soon, the outcome could reshape the legal landscape for years to come.
