In an apparent attempt to stoke anti-trans sentiment leading up to midterm elections, Texas is being inundated with purposefully inflammatory trans rights flyers from an unknown sender.
The flyers purport to help transgender minors in unsupportive homes find support but instead are focused on validating conservative fears that schools and other entities are trying to make their children transgender.
To begin, the flyers are addressed to “The Students of ______ Family.” This sets up the contrast that is to follow. The inside of the flyer is full of information meant to place a strain on that family relationship.
It includes sections for “What if I want to be emancipated?” and “What to do if your parents don’t support you.” It tells readers, “Even if your family doesn’t accept you as you are, groups like these are ready to become your found family.”
Everything about the flyer is meant to engage emotions that trans-affirming groups are trying to take your children.
Lies by omission
While there are no direct falsehoods in the flyer, it does contain a number of lies by omission. First, it claims there is a pathway for teenagers ages 16 or 17 to be emancipated from their parents. The wording is framed such that it sounds like this is a decision the child could apply for and a judge could grant. What it does not tell you is that emancipation in Texas requires parental consent and does not “lift certain restrictions on the minor’s right to consent to medical treatment” such as gender-affirming care.
Second, it claims a “trusted organization” can help minors understand “current Texas rules” about hormones and gender-affirming care — including how to go out of state for care. What it does not say is that under current Texas law, minors cannot receive either hormonal or physical gender-affirming care. Going out of state is also not realistic in almost every circumstance, given that the timeline from initial medical contact to receiving care can be nearly one year and costs — like many medical procedures in the U.S. — can be prohibitive.
Third, the flyer uses the logo of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, implying the flyer comes from them. However, TENT has denied sending the mailers, stating they “do not represent the official position or communications of the organization.”
A close inspection of the flyer lists the sender as the Texas Transgender Student Union, an LLC registered in Wyoming just last month with no online presence. Even more suspiciously, the agency that registered the LCC is linked to a wide array of scams and fraud. Further, the return address on the mailer does not exist but is close to a UPS Store.
A campaign of impersonation
These faked flyers did not appear in isolation. Just a few days earlier, Texans began receiving unsolicited text messages also claiming to come from TENT. The messages read: “New school year? Here’s your complete guide on bathrooms and beyond for trans kids at school” with a link to a TENT webpage. While the link is real, TENT denied authorizing the messages and issued cease-and-desist demands to the companies sending the texts, hoping to stop the campaign and identify the client responsible.
“These faked flyers did not appear in isolation.”
In the letter, they say, “Because the messages reference nothing but TENT’s domain, a reasonable recipient will conclude that TENT sent them, and that TENT is texting strangers about sensitive subjects without their consent.”
By all accounts, the text and the pamphlets are not real communications from trans-affirming advocacy and education organizations. Rather, they appear to be conservative Republican rage-bait meant to convince traditionally Republican voters to turn out to vote for a historically unpopular Senate candidate.
An election year weapon
U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton (left) with his son-in-law at Vintage Church in Harker Heights, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 30. (Screencap)
Trans rights in Texas have been a lynchpin issue in the race for U.S. Senate between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. Back in May, Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters said, “Texas is Trump country and won’t break a 32-year streak for a woke freak like James Talarico, who thinks there are six genders.” He continued, “Talarico will regret running for Senate by the time Republicans are done with him.”
Fast forward to late October, though, and many polls give Talarico a slight edge, with even Republican voters blanching at Paxton’s history of alleged corruption.
In May, Paxton ran an ad showing Talarico saying on a podcast, “I love trans children” while a booming voiceover declares that “this is not” Texas. A July attack ad claims Talarico wants to “teach trans ideology in schools and let boys compete in girls’ sports.” In September, Texas PAC falsely claimed Talarico “supported using taxpayer dollars for sex change surgeries on young children.”
Trump White House aide Stephen Miller wrongly suggested Talarico himself is transgender.
As polling stayed close, the rhetoric escalated to an ad titled “King James,” featuring an AI-generated Talarico. It mashes up a series of non-contextualized quotes and paraphrases to make AI-Talarico say: “In the beginning, God was non-binary and he wasn’t a Christian. And God said ‘Let there be six genders.’” Ironically, in 2019, Texas banned AI deepfaked advertising within 30 days of an election. However, that law only applies to state elections, not federal ones.
But trans rights also go beyond Texas with Republicans making anti-trans rhetoric part of their campaign platforms across the U.S. The Trump campaign utilized the same tactic in 2024 to great effect with an American Principles Project poll finding 45% of voters who saw the Trump campaign’s “Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for you” advertising were more likely to vote for Trump.
“Anti-trans rhetoric gets votes.”
As APP president Terry Schilling put it, “After trying and failing for years to neutralize cultural issues by avoiding them, the GOP under Trump finally went on offense and attacked Democrats on their radicalism, particularly on transgender issues. … There should be no question now that Democrats’ gender insanity is a massive political vulnerability for them that Republicans should continue to exploit.”
Translation: Anti-trans rhetoric gets votes.
Who benefits from the outrage?
And yeah, the rhetoric works. BlazeTV personality Sara Gonzales shared an image of the flyer to her half-a-million X followers, shouting, “THIS IS EVIL.” She later doubled down amidst TENT’s denial they sent the mailer, “It’s so evil that leftists don’t even want to claim it. They don’t want to claim that one of them did it.”
State Republican representative nominee Jon Bonck posted it as well, claiming it was sent to a family member’s home “targeting their children, who are all 13 and under.” He continued, “The radical left is trying to brainwash Texan children and unravel the basic framework of our society.”
These text messages and mailers with their emphasis on separating transgender youth from their families prey on the cultural anxieties Paxton and his allies have been cultivating throughout the campaign. On multiple occasions over several years now, Trump has made the wild claim that schools are sending children to hospitals to receive gender surgery. Just a few days ago, he falsely claimed, “We have five states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy three or four days later. It’s true.”
It’s no accident that these messages began just as early voting started in Texas. This isn’t about trans rights, or even protecting the conservative ideal of a nuclear family. It’s about protecting power. As of right now, we don’t know who sent the text messages or the mailers. With the way Wyoming’s byzantine registered agent system works and with the unfettered flow of dark money within politics, we may never know.
But this, we can say for sure: They were not meant to help trans kids. They were meant to scare Republicans into voting for Ken Paxton.
Josh Olds
Josh Olds is a public theologian and pastor for those disillusioned with institutional church. He is the creator of the small-group video series “Year on the Mountaintop” and a featured contributor to Fostering Hope: A Prayerbook for Fostering and Adoptive Parents. Follow his work on Facebook or at JoshOlds.com.
Related:
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