Katy-area families have received unsolicited brochures advising students on out-of-state gender care and emancipation, triggering criminal and legislative investigations across Texas.

The multicolored, tri-fold mailer, titled "Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide," arrived in envelopes addressed to "Students of the [family name] Family" rather than to parents, Covering Katy News reported. No one has claimed responsibility for sending them.

The brochure includes a section titled "What to do if your parents don't support you." It encourages students to seek help from teachers, counselors and organizations supporting transgender youth. It also tells students their parents do not have to be involved in their transgender identity and provides information about emancipation, a court process through which qualifying minors can gain certain adult rights, according to Covering Katy News.

The guide directs readers to Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Texas and the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT). None of those organizations has claimed involvement in creating or distributing the brochure.

Who sent them remains a mystery

The envelope lists a return address at 1611 W. Airport Blvd., Suite 123, in Meadows Place. That address does not appear to exist, according to Covering Katy News. A nearly identical address, 11611 W. Airport Blvd., belongs to a UPS Store where TENT receives mail.

The named sender, Texas Transgender Student Union LLC, was formed in September in Sheridan, Wyoming, at an address that primarily serves as a mail hub, WFAA reported. An employee at the Wyoming location told WFAA the registered agent listed on the LLC, Taylor Newman, does not work there.

TENT has denied creating or distributing the brochure. The organization said in a statement that the pamphlets "do not represent the official position" of the group. TENT's own materials do not promote emancipation for transgender youth, the Texas Tribune reported.

Investigations multiply

Sarah Stogner, district attorney for Loving, Reeves and Ward counties west of Odessa, told the Texas Tribune her office is investigating the mailers as a potential forgery, a state jail felony under Texas law.

State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican, sent two letters to Attorney General Ken Paxton requesting an investigation. His Oct. 13 letter asked Paxton to investigate potential violations of SB 12, the Texas Parents Bill of Rights. His Oct. 20 follow-up broadened the request after Leach said he received information suggesting the materials may not have come from the group whose name appeared on them.

"I expect a thorough investigation regardless of who is responsible, what their political affiliation may be, or which political interests they seek to advance," Leach wrote, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the attorney general's office did not respond to a request for comment on whether it was looking into the mailers.

TENT files lawsuit to identify sender

TENT filed a petition Oct. 22 in Travis County's 345th District Court seeking permission to question representatives of telecommunications provider Infobip LLC and Texas Transgender Student Union LLC, KVUE reported. The filing seeks evidence ahead of a potential lawsuit, not a ruling on liability.

TENT Deputy Director Andrea Segovia said in a court declaration that the communications prompted an "onslaught of hate and violent threats," forcing the group to deactivate its website and suspend regular programming, according to KVUE.

The court had not responded to the petition as of Oct. 23, KVUE reported. TENT requested a hearing for Oct. 27.