texas voters got a 'back to school' guide for trans kids in the middle of october. the trans group says it never sent it. curious.
via The Texas Tribune, KXAN, The Texan and TENT
"New school year? Here's your complete guide on bathrooms and beyond for trans kids at school."
That text went out on Saturday afternoon, The Texan reports, which is to say in October, well into the school year. It linked to a downloadable guide from the Transgender Education Network of Texas, known as TENT. A second one followed on Tuesday evening: "Questions about gender-affirming care in Texas? Start here. You can get the care you need."
Who was getting these? The Texan's own reporter posted a screenshot of the second one on her phone. So did Jeff Leach, the Republican state representative from Plano. The Texas Tribune counted texts from at least three numbers on Monday and Tuesday evenings, and notes that recipients online said they seemed to be landing on self-identified Republicans and their friends. Early voting starts in less than a week.
what TENT says
On Wednesday, TENT said the texts were not from it. "These text messages were not authored, authorized, approved, or distributed by TENT and are not affiliated with our organization," the group says in a statement on its website. It told KXAN it is investigating who sent them. The statement ends: "Trans Texans belong here. This is our home and we're not going anywhere."
the cease and desist
TENT did not stop at a statement. On Wednesday it sent a cease and desist letter to two messaging companies, Peerless Network and Infobip, saying an unnamed client was using their platforms to impersonate it, the Tribune reports. "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," the letter reads. It demands to know who the client is, and says the texts could be part of an effort to "manufacture a pretext for legal action" against the group.
The texts have already cost them. "TENT has been met with an onslaught of hate and threats via our social media and email channels," a spokesperson told the Tribune. Neither company responded to the Tribune.
KXAN is careful about one thing worth repeating: the back-to-school toolkit itself is real and is TENT's. The texts pushing it at random voters are what the group disowns. Nobody has identified the sender, and no disclaimer saying who paid for the texts appears in any of the coverage.
who ran with it first
The texts did not need a sender to do their job. On Monday, before TENT said anything, the right-wing account Gunther Eagleman posted: "TEXANS ARE GETTING RANDOM TEXT MESSAGES PUSHING A 'BATHROOM GUIDE FOR TRANS KIDS AT SCHOOL.'" On Tuesday a Dallas Express writer asked whether TENT was "encouraging teachers to violate Texas law."
That night Leach posted a letter asking Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is also the Republican nominee for US Senate, to investigate anyone "encouraging, instructing, or assisting Texans in circumventing" SB 12, the state's school "parental rights" law. "I myself received an unsolicited text message with a link to Trans Texas' Back to School Toolkit over the weekend," he wrote, and asked Paxton to look into how the sender got people's numbers, according to The Texan.
We'd like to know that too. A trans group says it did not send a mass text about trans kids, and the investigation being asked for is into the trans group. Paxton's office did not respond to The Texan's request for comment. Asked by the Tribune about TENT's denial, Leach said he wanted "a diligent search for the truth, no matter where that search may lead." Same, Jeff. Start with the messaging companies.
For now, nobody has said who paid for these texts. Somebody did. We'll be watching.
