Some Park Cities residents have received a Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide that was purportedly sent by a Texas transgender advocacy group, but which is actually linked to a company based in Wyoming, according to multiple news outlets.
The mailers claim to be from the Texas Transgender Student Union and reference the Transgender Education Network of Texas, or TENT.
But the Texas Transgender Student Union is not a Texas transgender rights organization. It’s an LLC that was formed last month in Wyoming, according to The Texas Tribune and Texas Observer reporter Steven Monacelli.
TENT, which is a real organization that supports Trans Texans, has denied any association with the mailers, and stated that their contents do not reflect its official position or communications. The group has faced threats of violence due to the circulation of the pamphlets and similar texts, according to The Texas Tribune.
The pamphlets, which are addressed to the “students of” a family, advise readers on what to do if their families do not support their choices and on how to become emancipated from their parents. It includes information on legal organizations that can help arrange out-of-state care.
“There are other kids in Texas going through this too — and there are adults whose actual job is to help you,” the pamphlets say. “Even if your family doesn’t accept you as you are, groups like these are ready to become your found family.”
The pamphlets include information about a “Trans Texas Takeover” from TENT. But visiting the provided web address takes readers to a TENT webpage which states that “text messages and mailers were not authored, authorized, approved, or distributed by TENT and are not affiliated with our organization.”
A linked webpage further states that “TENT has filed an official cease and desist to the text platforms that disseminated the text messages, and is working on the next steps to address the fraudulent physical mailers that were sent.”
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