Envelopes addressed to “Students of the” household started showing up in Texas mailboxes the week early voting opened for the Nov. 3 midterms. Inside was a “Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide” from a group calling itself the Texas Transgender Student Union.
That group doesn’t seem to exist in any public way. It has no website and no social media, CBS News Texas found. What it does have is a Wyoming LLC registration from Sept. 2 and a return address in Meadows Place, outside Houston, that doesn’t match any real office.
The organization whose materials the flyer borrows from, the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), says it had nothing to do with it.
Updated Oct. 27 with reporting from The Texas Newsroom about the text-message provider, disrupted services and investigation timeline.
What the Fake Trans Student Mailers Told Texas Kids
The pamphlet tells students to talk to a “safe adult” or an advocacy group if their parents don’t support their gender identity, according to the Texas Tribune. It says parents don’t need to be involved and includes a section on emancipation, the legal process for a minor to be treated as an adult. Every online resource it lists points to TENT.
TENT doesn’t offer emancipation guidance. Mimi Marziani, a lawyer for the group, told the Tribune the flyer copied the “look and feel” of TENT’s real materials and mixed in things TENT doesn’t support. KSAT also reported that the mailer makes false claims about minors accessing gender-affirming treatment without parental permission. Medical treatment and a young person’s social transition are different issues.
The mailers came after a round of text messages using TENT’s name. One, sent to a voter in Lumberton on Oct. 10, read: “New school year? Here’s your complete guide on bathrooms and beyond for trans kids at school,” with a link to TENT’s website, KFDM reported.
TENT says it didn’t send those either. “These text messages and mailers were not authored, authorized, approved, or distributed by TENT,” the group said in a statement. It also said the backlash has included threats of violence.
Peerless Network, Infobip and the Search for the Sender
The Texas Newsroom’s Toluwani Osibamowo reported Oct. 27 that TENT’s lawyers traced the numbers to Chicago-based Peerless Network, owned by Infobip. Infobip declined to identify the customer. It said it was investigating and generally does not control customers’ messages beyond filtering certain prohibited content. Identifying the carrier does not establish who commissioned the texts.
Threats Disrupt TENT and OutYouth Programs
The Texas Newsroom also reported that threats prompted TENT to cancel events and increase staff security. OutYouth paused in-person services while strengthening security; its telehealth counseling and virtual programs continue.
Who Got the Mailers, and Why the Timing Matters
NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported the mailers went to Republican and Hispanic households and landed in the first two days of early voting. Andrew Neilson, who got one even though he has no kids, called it “definitely rage bait” in an interview with KSAT.
Trans issues are already a big part of the U.S. Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. Both campaigns told CBS News Texas they had nothing to do with the mailers.
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones told KSAT the pamphlet was “sent out right at the start of the early voting period” and was meant to push voters toward Republicans on the issue without naming a candidate. That’s also why it’s hard to regulate. “This is a mailer that does not mention an actual candidate, which makes it fall into a grey area,” Anna Massoglia, a campaign finance expert at MuckRock, told NBC 5. The Federal Election Commission also doesn’t have enough members right now to take action on complaints.
Republican DA Sarah Stogner Opens a Forgery Investigation
The pushback hasn’t only come from the left. Sarah Stogner, the Republican district attorney for Loving, Reeves and Ward counties in West Texas, opened a criminal investigation into the mailers as possible forgery, a state jail felony, the Texas Tribune reported Oct. 22.
Stogner told the Tribune she viewed the mailers as an attempt to stir up voters. Her separate criminal inquiry concerns possible forgery, not a finding that anyone has committed a crime.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican, had asked Attorney General Paxton on Oct. 13 to investigate TENT itself over the texts. Days later, he sent a second letter saying he’d received “new information raising the possibility that the communications” may not come from the group whose name was on them.
Stogner’s inquiry focuses on the mailers, not the texts. The Texas Newsroom reported it would extend beyond Election Day.
The Paper Trail: A Wyoming LLC and an Illinois Printer’s Postal Permit
Reporters have been following the trail. The LLC used a registered-agent service at a single Sheridan, Wyoming, address that’s tied to hundreds of thousands of companies. Wyoming doesn’t require LLCs to list their owners. After CBS News Texas showed up at the office, the agent, Northwest Registered Agent, said it was resigning as agent for the Texas Transgender Student Union.
The U.S. Postal Service told CBS that the bulk mail permit printed on the flyers belongs to Three Z Printing in Teutopolis, Illinois, which is owned by Bill Zerrusen and his three sons. CBS stressed that holding the permit doesn’t prove the company printed or paid for the mailers. The company and family members hadn’t responded as of Monday, CBS News Texas reported.
TENT’s Court Hearing in Travis County
TENT filed a petition in Travis County on Oct. 22 under a Texas rule that lets a would-be plaintiff take depositions before suing. It seeks testimony from Infobip about the texts’ source and information about the people behind the Wyoming LLC, The Texas Newsroom reported. TENT suspects a common sender, but that link remains unconfirmed. TENT says whoever made the mailers used its name, photos, branding and website without permission, according to CBS News Texas.
The petition was set for a hearing before Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer on Oct. 27. This update does not include a verified ruling from that hearing. The proceeding concerns gathering testimony before a potential lawsuit; it does not establish who sent the mailers. Early voting in Texas ends Oct. 30.
Related: AOC Pushes Back on Claims That Trans Rights are a Losing Election Issue
