Parents have a right to know when a child is urged to transition

The allegation lands amid a Texas investigation into mailers sent under a fictitious group name, while a court record names senders of related texts—not the mailers.

No one has the right to coach an 11-year-old girl to transition behind her parents' backs. At the Fox News town hall aired Oct. 29, Rebekah Smith of Fort Worth asked Vice President JD Vance about a letter allegedly sent to her 11-year-old daughter about transitioning without her parents’ knowledge. Smith did not say who sent the letter. She asked Vance about an alleged letter to her 11-year-old daughter about transitioning without her parents’ knowledge. Vance did not hedge: "The person who sends a letter to an 11-year-old about gender transition, what I call that in my family is a pervert and that person ought to go to prison." Vance said, “I'd like the Department of Justice to investigate that.”¹

Smith did not say who sent the letter. Her description matches the fake “Texas Transgender Student Union” mailers CBS Texas reports that separate “Texas Transgender Student Union” mailers² sent to Texas students from a Wyoming company formed in September, which a district attorney is investigating for possible forgery; The letter Smith described has not been confirmed as one of those mailers. A court deposition names the Republican Women's Caucus Fund and a John Braun as senders of related text messages, not the mailers, and the fund denies involvement³.

So who wrote to an 11-year-old about leaving her parents out?

Parents have a right to know

Andrew Kolvet's account of the exchange describes a letter addressed to the child on how to transition from female to male without her parents knowing¹. Parents have a natural right, and a responsibility, to direct the care and upbringing of their children. The pattern is familiar: the American Principles Project's 2025 report on Planned Parenthood found that some affiliates offer other "gender-affirming" interventions for minors without parental consent⁴. Secrecy is the method, and the parent is the person it is built to shut out.

Smith did not identify the sender

No one should pretend to know who sent it. The Texas Transgender Student Union mailers arrived in mailboxes across the state, addressed to the "students" of each household. CBS Texas reports they appear to come from a fictitious transgender rights organization. Mimi Marziani, attorney for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said the group estimates between 3.6 million and 4.2 million went out². West Texas District Attorney Sarah Stogner, who opened the forgery investigation, said she was worried the mailers were sent to influence the election underway³. A forged letter to a child still lands in a child's hands.

The Infobip deposition covers texts that advertised guides on "bathrooms and beyond for trans kids at school." It is unclear whether the fund and Braun also had a hand in the mailers, and Infobip said it knew of no business relationship with the Wyoming group³. That group's lawyer, Chris Hilton, a former attorney in Ken Paxton's office, told the court, "The first amendment protects speech 365 days a year - especially in an election year." Free speech is not a license to write to someone else's child under a fake name. The Texas Supreme Court stayed the district court’s order² and directed attorneys to respond by 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2.

Investigators must establish who sent it

State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, has asked Paxton's office in two separate letters to investigate who sent the materials. Vance told Smith to talk to his staff. Both requests deserve answers before families vote in the Nov. 3 election³.

Texas parents can hold their officials to three questions. Will the attorney general's office name who wrote to these children, yes or no? Will the Justice Department trace Smith's letter to its sender, yes or no? Will lawmakers guarantee that no stranger, school or clinic can coach a child to hide a transition from her parents, yes or no?

Parents have a right to know when a child is urged to transition

Parents have a right to know

Smith did not identify the sender

The deposition concerns related texts

Investigators must establish who sent it

Sources