Ahead of elections in hostile Texas, someone is impersonating trans advocates — by text and now by mail

A transgender rights advocacy group in Texas says it is being impersonated in a campaign mailing unsolicited flyers about transgender identity to households across the state, prompting threats against its staff.The Transgender Education Network, which focuses on LGBTQ+ education and policy advocacy, said Tuesday that it does not know who is behind the campaign and is pursuing legal action.Related: Texas trans rights group says text message impersonation campaign sparked hate See on Instagram “We have been made aware of physical mailers and brochures currently being distributed with branding similar to our own. TENT did not author, authorize, approve, or distribute these materials,” the organization wrote in an Instagram post Saturday. “These instances will not shake our commitment to the dignity and humanity of trans youth, trans Texans, their families, and their loved ones.”Related: A GOP super PAC twists a Texas adult’s transition story to scare Ohio voters with an ad full of liesThe mail campaign, sent by a dark money group created two weeks ago in Wyoming, comes just days after the organization warned that it was being impersonated in a text campaign targeting Texas phone numbers, with messages purporting to come from the group sent on October 11 and 13. The organization said it issued a subpoena to messaging company Peerless Network on October 14 and urged it to block further messages falsely presented as its communications.The flyers and text messages included a mix of the organization's own materials and outside materials about transgender identity that were falsely attributed to the group, according to the organization. View on Threads The flyers featured the organization’s branding under the title “Texas Transgender Student Union” and were reported in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio metropolitan areas, the organization wrote in an email statement shared with The Advocate on Tuesday.The organization said the unsolicited materi