Texas Trans Rights Group Says They Weren’t Behind Pamphlets Causing Right-Wing Backlash
The pamphlets were sent by an organization founded last month in Wyoming.
Pamphlets sent out in Texas claimed they were from a local transgender rights group, but the group says it’s being implicated to stir up anti-trans hate before the November midterm elections.
Several days ago, social media posts emerged with people showing a pamphlet that seemed to market an LGBTQ+ resource guide for students and seemed to be from the Texas Transgender Student Union, the Texas Tribune reports. However, the Texas Tribune and the Texas Observer’s Steven Monacelli found that the group was created in early September, several states north in Wyoming.
The "Texas Transgender Student Union" that sent out mailers, which have become a major controversy among Republicans, is a real organization — but it was only formed in September in Wyoming as an LLC and is entirely separate from TENT, the organization marketed in the fliers. https://t.co/mCpJHKOW1l
— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) October 20, 2026
The news outlet reports that the mailers were addressed to the “student” of the household and urged students to speak either with “safe” adults or with an advocacy group if their guardians don’t support their gender identity.
It also provides information about emancipation from parents and includes a part saying that parents don’t need to be involved with a student’s gender identity — issues that have been brought up in debates over gender-affirming care for trans youth.
The pamphlets direct people to resources linked to the Transgender Education Network of Texas, known as TENT. Since the pamphlets emerged, the group says it’s been the target of threats and had to lock down its website to a single page.
TENT, however, says it’s not behind the pamphlets.
“We are aware of text messages and now physical mailers that have been circulated concerning TENT that appear to have been issued by or on behalf of the organization,” a statement on TENT’s website reads. “These text messages and mailers were not authored, authorized, approved, or distributed by TENT and are not affiliated with our organization. The texts do not represent the official position or communications of the organization.”
The group added, “We will continue to monitor the situation and remain committed to our organizational values of unequivocal support for trans Texans, their families, and their loved ones. Trans Texans belong here. This is our home and we’re not going anywhere.”
The group has no guidance on LGBTQ+ youth seeking emancipation, the Texas Tribune reports. Instead, the group’s resources focus on how trans people can navigate the state’s anti-trans laws like its bathroom ban and ban on some school groups.
Texts have also been sent out similar to the pamphlets. TENT says it is not behind those either.
Conservative pundits have shared images of the pamphlets, and one image included the board of TENT.
Texas Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach had asked the state’s attorney general’s office to investigate TENT for potentially violating the law if they sent out texts. However, earlier this week, he sent another letter clarifying, “these new developments raise additional and serious concerns about the identity and motives of those responsible, the potential dissemination of misleading information, and the acquisition and use of thousands — if not millions — of Texans’ personal contact information.”
Many have argued online that the pamphlets are trying to stir up anti-trans hate ahead of the elections.
“I would say this is most likely coming from some group that is supporting Ken Paxton, or at least Republicans more generally. But we don’t know, and they may very well not have direct ties to any campaign or candidate,” Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, told local station KHOU. “And, so what this is subtly doing is reminding parents or bringing up for many of these parents the issue of transgender, and the fact that the more that they think about transgender, we know from polling, the more unfavorable they’re going to view James Talarico.”
He added that the mailers could affect undecided voters.
“The more Republican leaning voters and independent voters think about transgender issues, the more likely they are to turn out to vote and vote Republican,” Jones told the station. “It isn’t uncommon to have misinformation or disingenuous mailers going out. What is different here, though, is that this is being sent out as a very apolitical, pro-trans mailer, but it isn’t designed to have a pro-trans effect. What it’s designed to do is get parents concerned that somehow someone is trying to convert their children, or someone essentially has values related to transgender children and transitioning that are opposite their values.”
