Pastor Denounces Transphobic Effort to Influence Voters

For Immediate Release — Tuesday, October 20, 2026

A Wichita Falls pastor is calling foul on a mailer sent to households in conservative communities in Texas implying that a transgender support organization is soliciting involvement from children.

In recent days, a mailer addressed to "Students at the (family name) Household)" has purported to promote involvement in a transgender rights organization.

"It is outrageous to suggest that transgender-supporting organizations – which includes the church I lead – would target minors in such an outrageous way," said Rev. Mel Martinez, pastor of Safe Harbor Metropolitan Community Church in Wichita Falls, which welcomes and affirms LGBTQ and all people. "That this malicious and misleading mailer has reached households only two weeks before Election Day makes it an obvious ploy to inflame voters."

The mailer has been traced to an LLC formed in Wyoming, with a UPS mailbox address in Texas, but uses the name of a Texas-based transgender-supporting organization. The piece has also arrived just as former Texas House Speaker Dale Phelan publicly stated that the GOP has misfired in its non-stop targeting of trans people.

"Reasonable people know that L

"Reasonable people know that LGBTQIA+ folks do not 'recruit' children," Martinez said. "Given the pure hatred we endure and the risks of abuse from transphobic individuals, our communities know better than to attempt to incite our neighbors or demand anything other than equal civil rights. This clearly political effort just further pulls back the curtain on the misleading and misled GOP narrative that trans people are predators. It's time for scapegoating to end and for all citizens to address the hateful rhetoric of ALL campaigning in our politics."