Sarah Stogner, the elected district attorney for Loving, Reeves and Ward counties west of Odessa, announced Tuesday that her office is investigating a series of pamphlets mailed to households across Texas. The flyers were presented as a resource guide from the Texas Transgender Student Union – a group that was only recently formed as a limited‑liability company in Wyoming and lists a Houston‑area post office box as its address.
Alleged forgery and election motive
Stogner said the mailers appear to be a deliberate attempt to agitate voters before the November midterm elections. Under Texas law, forging a document for the purpose of influencing an election is a state jail felony. “If this ends up being legal, it is everything that is wrong with our current political climate,” the DA told The Texas Tribune.
The pamphlets were addressed to the “student” of each household and urged LGBTQ+ youth to seek help from various advocacy groups if their parents do not support their gender identity. They also included information about the legal process for minors to be recognized as adults – a stance the real Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) does not endorse.
TENT denies involvement
TENT officials said the organization had no role in creating or distributing the flyers and believes the campaign was designed to damage the group’s reputation. “These messages were deliberately distributed in a manner calculated to cause maximum harm to TENT and to create confusion and strife among the Texas electorate,” a TENT spokesperson said in an email.
Lawyer Mimi Marziani noted that the mailer mimicked the look and feel of authentic TENT materials while mixing in resources the group does not support, including the controversial adult‑minor legal pathway.
Community reaction and DA response
Stogner reported that many of her constituents are angry and worried that children are being “exposed” to the material. She added that if the goal were truly to protect children, the effort would focus on prosecuting pedophiles rather than spreading propaganda.
“If we were actually worried about kids and their safety, no one would be sending propaganda to spread that message further on television ads, in text messages, in written whatever,” Stogner said.
Legislative involvement
The investigation follows two letters from state Rep. Jeff Leach, R‑Plano, urging Attorney General Ken Paxton to look into the origin of the mailers and a related series of text messages that also referenced TENT. In his first letter, Leach asked the AG to examine possible violations of a state law governing student‑organized groups and classroom materials. His second letter requested that the identity of the sender be uncovered.
“Since sending that letter one week ago, I have received new information raising the possibility that the communications and associated toolkit may not originate from the group whose name it was sent under,” Leach wrote.
Next steps
The DA’s office said the investigation is ongoing and may expand as new information emerges. Authorities are reviewing the pamphlet’s printing origins, mailing lists and any digital footprints that could reveal the true source.
Local officials and community leaders are urging parents to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious political mailings that target children.
Original reporting: Texas Tribune (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
