Mysterious texts and mailers impersonating a Texas transgender advocacy organization have been traced to a republican organization. Two weeks ago, a series of texts and mailers were sent to people across Texas, apparently mainly to registered Republican voters. The messages linked to the Transgender Education Network of Texas, implying the group had been the one to send them. TENT immediately pursued legal action following a wave of backlash and threats over the messages.
Originally reported on by Steven Monacelli of the Texas Observer, the messages were quickly traced to a Wyoming based LLC. The lawyer for the LLC and for the owner of the phone number that sent the texts, Chris Hilton, has previously had ties to Ken Paxton, notably defending him during a 2023 impeachment trial. Hilton has tried to block the court from finding the identities of who sent the messages, claiming that, in trying to find who sent the false mailers before the election, TENT was “engag[ing] in electioneering.”
In spite of Hilton’s pushback, the court ordered that his clients identify themselves in a deposition. The deposition, which was set to occur on Friday, was blocked 15 minutes before it was set to begin by the Texas Supreme Court. However, court documents for that deposition reveal that the texts were sent on behalf of the Republican Women Caucus Fund, as well as a person named John Braun.
The Republican Women Caucus Fund denies any involvement with the messages impersonating TENT.
A soccer game in Portland, OR. was interrupted last week by anti-trans protesters. The group, wearing XX-XY shirts, gathered during the October 23rd game between Portland and North Carolina next to the official fans section for the Portland Thorns. The group quickly provoked anger from Thorns fans, resulting in a “scuffle” and were escorted out by security.
According to the protestors they were trying to raise awareness for the trans sports ban on the Washington State ballot.
Notably, there are no trans athletes on either team that was playing, or even the league; and the ballot initiative they were advocating was in a different state than where they chose to protest or where either team was even from.
Despite protestors insistence that trans women in women’s sport is unfair, successful female athletes support trans inclusion. Gabby Williams, a WNBA player who has been loud in her support of trans players, earned MVP on Saturday as she led her team to winning the WNBA Championships. “I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team, anytime,” said Williams earlier this year. She continued, speaking of the culture war surrounding trans people in sport, “It’s just another way to kind of attack trans people,”
Megan Rapinoe, a legendary professional soccer player, reaffirmed her support of trans players in sport on the Who’s With Me? podcast. In the interview, Rapinoe pushes back on the anti-trans notion of men posing as women to beat women at sport, “There’s a lot that trans people have to go through if you’re a trans person in sports to even play,” continuing on to say, “you couldn’t just say one day, ‘I’m a woman,’ and go play. That’s not how it works.”
“God forbid a trans person play sports and they’re halfway decent at it,” Rapinoe went on to say, shortly after calling anti-trans figures and athletes “grifters”.
