Overview
- State Rep. Jeff Leach formally asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Oct. 13 to open an investigation into the Transgender Education Network of Texas and other groups after unsolicited texts linked to a “Back to School Toolkit.”
- The toolkit, updated in August, offers students, families and school staff guidance on bathrooms, names and pronouns, and suggests ways to pursue student groups or supports when schools restrict clubs or services.
- TENT acknowledged on social media that texts promoting the toolkit appeared to have been sent by or on behalf of the group and said it was monitoring the situation.
- Leach asked investigators to determine how names, phone numbers and email addresses were obtained and whether the messaging campaign violated privacy, consumer-protection or data-security laws after reports the texts reached thousands of Texans.
- The dispute sits against a backdrop of SB 12 and SB 8 restrictions in Texas and a prior federal preliminary injunction limiting parts of SB 12 in three large districts, and it could prompt state enforcement choices that directly affect transgender students, school staff and advocacy tactics.