Pamphlets mailed to Texas voters purporting to be a “resource guide” for LGBTQ students have been linked to a limited liability company registered in Wyoming last month.
The pamphlets, featuring a blue and pink cover mimicking the colors of the transgender flag, purported to come from the “Texas Transgender Student Union” — a group unfamiliar to LGBTQ advocates — and were addressed to the “student” of each household. They encouraged youth to speak with a “safe adult” or one of several advocacy groups if their parents didn’t support their identity.
According to The Texas Tribune, the mailers also said parents don’t need to be involved with a student’s transgender identity and included information about how minors can become emancipated from their parents and legally recognized as adults.
All online resources listed in the pamphlets link to the Transgender Education Network of Texas, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group known as TENT, including a page encouraging students to contact the organization. TENT’s official online materials do not promote or offer guidance on emancipation. Instead, they explain how to navigate laws restricting restroom usage in public buildings and prohibiting the formation of certain student-led school groups.
The group also provides guidance for parents of transgender children on how to interact with Child Protective Services, which has investigated families for allowing their children to receive puberty blockers or hormones for gender transition.
Earlier this month, before the pamphlets were mailed, voters began receiving texts from at least three different numbers purporting to represent TENT. The messages advertised guides on “bathrooms and beyond for trans kids at school” or offered to answer questions about gender-affirming care in Texas. They linked to TENT materials explaining how to navigate anti-transgender laws and outlining the group’s advocacy work.
The messages prompted a backlash, including threats of violence against TENT. The organization subsequently took down its website, leaving only a statement addressing the unauthorized texts and mailers.
“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,” it read. “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.”
“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,” the message continued. “Trans Texans belong here. This is our home and we’re not going anywhere.”
TENT told the Concho Observer that it lacks the funds to produce and mail a full-color, two-sided pamphlet to every household in Texas — an effort the organization estimated would cost between $3 million and $4 million.
The organization also sent a cease-and-desist notice to two digital messaging companies, demanding they stop a client from impersonating the group.
Tribune reporter Steven Monacelli later reported that the “Texas Transgender Student Union” was registered in Wyoming in early September, according to state business records. The mailers listed a Houston-area post office box as the group’s address.
On October 22, Mimi Marziani, an attorney representing TENT, announced that the organization had filed a petition in Travis County court seeking to identify the people or organizations behind the mailers, according to The Advocate.
While Texas is normally a solidly Republican state, both the U.S. Senate race and governor’s race, as well as some other statewide offices, are considered close contests this year due to the unpopularity of Republican President Donald Trump and some of his policies. Turning out infrequent or less reliable Republican-leaning voters — who may be more inclined to stay at home — could be the key to helping the GOP win this year.
Sarah Stogner, the Republican district attorney for Loving, Reeves and Ward counties in West Texas, told the Tribune that her office is investigating the mailers as a potential forgery. She said the investigation could expand as more information emerges and that she believed the mailers were an attempt to agitate voters ahead of the November midterm elections.
“If this ends up being legal, it is everything that is wrong with our current political climate,” Stogner said.
While most political candidates fear the "October Surprise" -- an unplanned or unexpected event shortly before an election that can change public opinion or shake up a political contest -- Democratic congressional candidate Chris Gallant got his a month early.
In September, the right-wing tabloid The New York Post revealed that Gallant, 37, had appeared in varying degrees of undress while modeling fetish gear in promotional photos for Mr. S Leather, a San Francisco-based leather and fetish retailer.
The photos, taken in early 2010, showed the then-20-year-old Gallant in various gear, including a black leather posture collar with a chain and a padlock, and in a cage, wearing a harness and a muzzle. In one photo, another man is behind Gallant, performing a sex act on him. In another, Gallant, fully clad in leather, is seen above the same man, receiving oral sex.
Policies related to gender identity rank lowest among the issues American voters consider important to their vote in next month's midterm elections, according to a CNN poll.
Conducted by independent research company SSRS, the poll surveyed 1,206 U.S. adults online and by telephone September 16-17, including 867 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all adults and 4.1 points for registered voters.
The poll asked respondents to assess President Donald Trump's job performance and his handling of specific issues. Registered voters were also asked which party's congressional candidates they favored and which issues would influence their vote.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has reportedly paid at least 29 accounts with histories of promoting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric for posts ahead of this year's midterm elections.
According to reporting from Uncloseted Media and The 19th, Meta pays these creators through Facebook Content Monetization, a program launched in 2024 that allows eligible creators to earn money based on the performance of their public Facebook posts, including text, Stories, Reels, longer videos, and photos.
Many creators celebrated the program's launch, with some reporting a major increase in their earnings. But critics say the program encourages inflammatory posts and so-called "rage bait" to increase engagement.
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