Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday that the state had filed a lawsuit against New York-based clothing company Lola Olivia over the sale of binders, arguing that the retailer violates consumer protection laws that ban “false, misleading, or deceptive advertising.”
Widely known for using the power of his office to engage in myriad anti-LGBTQ+ political crusades — including the December 2025 introduction of a tip line that tacitly encourages Texans to photograph trans people using the restroom — Paxton issued a press release accompanying the lawsuit that describes youth transition as “child abuse,” vowing to bring “swift and unrelenting justice” to Lola Olivia and other companies that sell binders.
“It’s unconscionable that there are people in this world who are trying to make a fortune by hurting kids, but that’s exactly what’s going on here,” Paxton wrote.
The lawsuit, which seeks $1,000,000 in monetary relief among other measures, alleges that binders cause “lasting damage,” painting a dire and inaccurate picture of the health concerns associated with chest binding among youth.
For instance, the lawsuit claims that “even” the World Professional Association of Transgender Health “has indicated that the use of breast binders … bears significant risk,” when, in actuality, the 2022 WPATH Standards of Care acknowledge “common negative health impacts” like “back/chest pain, shortness of breath and overheating” while advising that physicians treating trans youth should counsel them to use “binders specifically designed for the gender diverse population.”
“ If youth report negative health impacts from chest binding, these should ideally be addressed by a gender-affirming medical provider with experience working with TGD youth,” the Standards of Care conclude.
Similar misrepresentations of medical research occur throughout the document. In fact, many of the lawsuit’s citations refer to the Food and Drug Administration’s own communications on chest binding. Under the Trump administration, the FDA has been threatening companies that sell binders, sending warning letters in December 2025 to 12 manufacturers, including prominent queer- and trans-owned companies such as TomboyX and gc2b.
“Failure to adequately address this matter may result in regulatory action being initiated by the FDA without further notice. These actions include, but are not limited to, seizure and injunction,” the FDA letter reads.
The lawsuit also fails to acknowledge that binding existed long before the advent of companies that design these gender-affirming garments, just through far less safe means. Experts fear that the FDA seeking to reduce access to binders will lead young trans people to bind with unsafe materials like duct tape, electrical tape, and ACE bandages. “They may believe that a binder is not safe, because they don’t know what the alternative was,” 58-year-old Sean Ebony Coleman told The 19th this week.
“Back in my day, we didn’t have binders. We used electrical tape. We would wrap with an ACE bandage, and then go around it with electrical tape,” Coleman said. “So just imagine wearing that for eight to ten hours a day, the harm that it caused.”
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