Texas Conservatives Are Up In Arms After Receiving Pamphlets For Trans Teens—Except Republicans Are Behind It All

Texas Republicans have lashed out after receiving pamphlets for transgender teenagers about gender-affirming care even though the pamphlets' origins show that the call is very much coming from inside the house.

Although the pamphlets distributed at the start of Texas’s early voting period claim to come from the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), a legitimate organization, the materials are fraudulent, the group has confirmed.

Efforts to trace the mailers led to a UPS store near Houston associated with an entity calling itself the Texas Transgender Student Union. No organization by that name exists in Texas, though a group using the same name was recently established in Wyoming.

Though the pamphlets offer to connect transgender students with gender-affirming care and a supportive community, The Texas Tribune determined the following after conducting its own investigation:

“A mailer ID for two of the pamphlets received by Tribune employees were associated with Maryland-based mail tracking company SnailWorks, according to a U.S. Postal Service employee who searched the IDs.”

“The National Republican Congressional Committee has paid Snailworks a total of $57,300 for “list rental” over the past two years, according to a Federal Election Commission search of campaign finance reports.”

Despite the outcome of this investigation, many Texas Republicans have gleefully taken the bait and responded with fury.

In a video that has since gone viral, queer TikToker Nathan Jun addressed the controversy, remarking:

"Why are they getting sent? Because right now one of the only things the Texas GOP can do to win governor and Senate race is to try and use identity politics." ...

“You might be thinking to yourself, ‘this is illegal, this is a felony. It’s not. It’s a Class A misdemeanor. And who has jurisdiction over a Class A misdemeanor…the attorney general.”

The Texas Attorney General is none other than the scandal-ridden Ken Paxton, who is the GOP nominee for Texas' seat in the U.S. Senate and has spent months portraying his opponent, Democrat James Talarico, as a "weird" man with an unhealthy obsession with transgender youth. Talarico has openly condemned anti-trans legislation and defended the transgender community.

Critics are unsurprised.

The Texas GOP must be in real trouble if they're stooping this low with just two weeks left until the midterm elections.