SAN ANTONIO – We’re following the latest on who’s behind pamphlets offering students information about trans-related resources available to them.
The pamphlets, showing up in mailboxes across the state right before the midterms. One political expert said it’s not a coincidence.
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There are more questions about the political motives behind pamphlets claiming to come from a transexual advocacy group. The mailers are addressed to students and take extreme positions experts say are designed to evoke strong emotions.
RELATED: Texas parents question origin of Trans & LGBTQ mailers, concerns rise
The pamphlets suggest some children or teens consider filing emancipation, or a legal separation from their parents, to obtain care.
Political scientists say they likely come from a conservative group trying to arouse anger in voters.
“We’re in October in a highly competitive election season,” said UT San Antonio Political Science professor and department chair Jon Taylor. “It’s not surprising that you’re going to get this kind of mischief.”
The mailers started arriving in mailboxes across Texas earlier this week. All of them come from a group calling itself the ‘Texas Transgender Student Union’. It’s an LLC out of Wyoming that didn’t exist roughly a month ago.
The address on the pamphlet shows up online as a UPS store in Meadows Place, Texas. It’s just Southwest of Houston.
“They’re taking advantage of Wyoming’s very… liberal, is that term, LLC laws that basically allow almost anybody to establish an LLC,” Taylor said.
Those state laws keep the information private.
According to online records, Taylor Newman is the organizer of the Texas Transgender Student Union. We tried giving calling that person but didn’t get an answer.
“As an adult I know it’s fake,” said San Antonio mother Gabby Huizar. She also received a pamphlet. “However, does the child know it was fake?”
She also said she felt the timing of the mail was suspicious.
“You might say there are signs that suggest certain things, that politically it’s likely coming from a conservative organization that’s trying to ramp up at least Republican support,” Taylor said adding, under certain circumstances, this could be considered illegal.
The Texas Tribune reports that West Texas District Attorney Sarah Stogner is investigating the pamphlets as forgery, which is a felony in the state of Texas.